Just a few days after a home guard and a Government Railway Police constable were suspended for neglecting an injured man lying at the Sanpada station in Mumbai, another case of negligence by a railway official has come to light.
CCTV captures shocking moment rail passengers rescue man who had fallen under train
This time, a Travel Ticket Examiner (TTE) reportedly refused to help a woman suffering from cardiac arrest. The 55-year-old woman, who has been identified as Kanchan Devi, died due to the alleged negligence.
The incident took place on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday when the Dhanbad-bound Jodhpur-Howrah Express had just departed from the Jaipur station. Devi complained of uneasiness to her son Amarjeet Prasad at around 2:30 am.
When Prasad approached the TTE on board, his request for help was rejected. "The TTE, SC Meena, who was drunk, rebuked me and asked me to stay seated," alleged Prasad.
"For the next five hours, my mother fought for life, but neither a railways doctor nor any other official came to help us," he added. His mother died before the train reached the Agra Fort station.
'Action will be taken'
When the train reached the Agra Fort station, the angry passengers started protesting against the railways and demanded immediate arrest of the TTE. Meena had by then fled the scene.
"After we assured the passengers that we would take appropriate action against the TTE, they calmed down. We roped in the Government Railway Police (GRP) to send Devi's body for post mortem," station officer of Railway Protection Force at Agra Fort, B K Sharma, was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
Station officer Lalit Tyagi has also assured that action will be taken. "Since prima facie we don't see any criminal charge against Meena, we have referred the complaint to the station master of Agra Fort, who will further inform his superior about the incident, to take appropriate action," said Tyagi.
Railways backs TTE
However, Agra Fort station master NK Agrawal appeard to dismiss the allegation that Meena was drunk.
"We have received a complaint from the woman's son. The allegations against Meena are of a serious nature. The TTE has good rapport with his colleagues and he does not drink," claimed Agarwal.
Though he did not deny Prasad's claim of Meena misbehaving with him, he said the TTE had alerted them. "Had Meena been drunk, he would not have informed railways about Devi's condition. A distress call was sent out at Bandikui junction, but since the train did not have a halt there, Bharatpur, Achhnera and Agra Fort were alerted," explained Agarwal.
"At 5 am, Agra Fort received information about the woman's condition, and we brought in a doctor at 6 am, but by the time the train reached the station at 7:05 am, the woman had passed away," he further added
However, Prasad has claimed no doctor came to attend to his mother even when the train halted at Bharatpur and Achhnera for 2 minutes each.
The divisional commercial manager of Agra division Sanchit Tyagi has said preliminary investigations have revealed the woman died before Bharatpur, while Meena had informed railway authorities when the train was crossing the Bandikui earlier.
The railways authorities are interrogating Meena.
