Railway departments fight over burnt Frontier Mail coaches

LUDHIANA: Nine months after Frontier Mail caught fire at Laddowal, consuming 38 lives in the fire tragedy, the issue continues to remain burning both for Railway Safety Commission and the Ground Railway Police.
The three coaches, which had caught fire are learnt to have been auctioned for Rs 12 lakhs. The disfigured boogies are being dismantled and taken away as scrap from the Ludhiana Railway dockyard.
While the auction has been conducted by Railway authorities, who believe the inquiry and investigations in the case are complete, GRP thinks otherwise.
SC Jain, ADGP, GRP, during a recent visit to Ludhiana did not mince words about RSC''s non cooperative attitude, when he said that GRP had failed to evoke any response from Bhupinder Singh Bhunder, commissioner, RSC, despite beseeching him to join GRP’s investigations several times.
Ridiculing the commissioner, Jain retorted that GRP did not trust the report submitted by Bhunder, which specified that some chemicals present in the train had set the fire, which engulfed three coaches in no time.
He also said that GRP would like to conduct its own inquiry. Meanwhile, Dharam Singh, divisional regional manager, taking over the office on Saturday, said that authorities had to wait only for RSC commissioner''s report before putting the coaches for auction. He added the report was submitted to Railway Board, which had further initiated action against the staff found erring in the matter.
Dharam Singh also stated that it is not mandatory for the commissioner to participate in GRP investigations. He elaborated that RSC as an independent organisation works directly under Ministry of Civil Aviation, and not under Ministry of Railways. He clarified that the commission does not take directions from any other body.
Karamjit Singh, AIG, GRP did not perceive the matter in the same light. He said despite protocols GRP works in the interest of Railways and that the authorities and RSC should have cooperated with them in a better way.
He said the Commissioner had agreed to participate in GRP investigations, provided the general manager of Railways was to provide him with requisite instructions. The latter, he maintained, did not materialise and that Railways have gone ahead with auction and the dismantling of the coaches, while GRP investigations have been abandoned midway.
As the two bodies mutually counter charge each other for a report, which does not seem satisfying to both organisations, they possibly not only hurt the sentiments of the kith and kin of those who died in the incident, but also publicly bare the inefficiency and the lack of rapport between the two closely associated departments.