Bodies of nine pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh, including five from Sitapur district, killed in a fire tragedy in a train coach in Tamil Nadu were sent to their families after they reached Lucknow on Sunday.
Relief Commissioner Naveen Kumar said the bodies arrived from Chennai at the Chowdhury Charan Singh airport on two separate flights. District-wise hearse vehicles were arranged at the airport by the government and the bodies were taken to their respective districts.
Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak reached the airport to receive the bodies of Manoharman Agarwal (81) and her granddaughter Himani Bansal (22), who hailed from Lucknow.
Their bodies were cremated at the Gulala Ghat in Lucknow, Manoharman’s son Manoj Agarwal told PTI.
Speaking to PTI, Pathak expressed condolences over the death of the nine people. ”The state government is providing all possible assistance to the families,” he added.
Nine people were killed and eight more injured when a fire broke out inside a stationary train compartment at the Madurai railway station on August 26, the Southern Railway said.
The deceased, bound for Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, had last week embarked from Lucknow on the pilgrimage with several others in a private party coach booked by their tour operator, it added.
Officials said that the bodies of five deceased who hailed from Sitapur — Mithilesh Singh (52), Shatru Daman Singh (65), Harish Kumar Bhasin (60), Ankul Kashyap (32) and Deepak Kashyap (20) — were sent to their hometown from the state capital by ambulances under the supervision of police and district authorities.
Sitapur Additional District Magistrate (ADM) R B Tiwari told PTI that all five bodies were handed to their families on Sunday evening.
”One of the deceased identified as Deepak Kashyap of Kanshiram locality has been cremated today, while the rest will be cremated as per the decision of their respective families,” the ADM said.
Rohit Anand, nephew of deceased tour operator Harish Bhasin, said his maternal uncle was in the tour business for a long time and used to take people on pilgrimage.
”We did not expect that this was his last trip. When the fire broke out, my maternal uncle came out safely. However, after hearing cries from the train coach, he again entered it to rescue people but succumbed to the fire,” Anand told PTI.
Bhasin’s last rites will be performed on Monday at a crematorium in Sitapur, he added.
The family of Mithilesh Singh also said that he would be cremated on Monday.
The police and administration are helping the aggrieved families in every possible way and according to directions issued by authorities, ADM RB Tiwari said.
Apart from the duo from Lucknow and the five people from Sitapur, the other two people who lost their lives in the tragedy are Shanti Devi (67) from Lakhimpur Kheri and Parmeshwar Dayal Gupta (57) from Hardoi, the officials said.
The last rites of Shanti Devi were performed at her village in Kothia under the Shardanagar police limits on Sunday night. Her eldest son Kamlesh Verma performed the rituals in the presence of his two younger brothers, two sisters and other family members.
Her mortal remains were brought to Kothia village in a special ambulance from Lucknow late in the evening.
Lakhimpur Kheri district authorities, BJP MLA Romi Sahni, former Kheri MP Ravi Verma and hundreds of villagers paid their tributes.
Sita Singh, a member of the pilgrimage group and resident of Gomti Nagar in Lucknow, returned safely on a Lucknow-bound flight on Sunday.
Her son Mohit Singh, who came to receive his mother at the airport, said the family was worried as they were initially unable to reach her over the phone after the incident.
”We were relieved when we could finally speak to her and now she has safely arrived here,” Singh said.
The Southern Railway said a gas cylinder ”illegally” taken inside the coach led to the blaze. Various angles, including a possible gas leak, having triggered the blaze are being probed, it said.
On Saturday, the Government Railway Police (GRP) filed a case against the tour operator.
The Uttar Pradesh government released compensations of Rs 3 lakh each to the kin of four deceased on Saturday. Details of legal heirs are being verified for providing financial aid to the remaining five, the officials added.
Comments
0 comment