Information crisis at Rly station

NEW DELHI: The biggest casualty of the 2301 Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani tragedy was information. Eighteen hours after the accident, the only news that trickled into the office of the deputy station superintendent (commercial) at the New Delhi railway station was that 50 passengers had died, the names of just 14 of them, and a list of 45 injured.
We track three of the most nerve-wracking hours that scores of relatives had to undergo at the station on Tuesday.12 noon: A rush of relatives and well-wishers of passengers had swamped the staff at the special inquiry counter on platform 1. There was disappointment in store. Officials could only offer rough figures. A list of 25 injured had been put up. Still no word on how many and who had died.
This was for a train on which every passenger is accounted for. ‘‘We are disseminating as much information as is being faxed from Mughalsarai, Dhanbad and areas around the accident site,’’ said a railway official. 1pm: An updated list of injured had not arrived yet. Neither was there any word on fatalities. 1.45 pm: There is some commotion as a second list of injured is brought in. But it still had just 45 names on it. Officials kept waiting for information from Gaya, Mughalsarai and Dhanbad.
‘‘The office has no information,’’ said Ramesh Mohta, whose 58-year-old uncle was on the train. ‘‘He was in coach number AS-2 which we’ve been told has derailed. The media is providing more information,’’ said Brij Mohan, another relative. People whose relatives’ names were not on the list paced around trying to call on mobiles or even talk to mediapersons
‘‘Forty-one people have left on 23 passes we issued for relatives on the first special train that left at 9.05 am. Another 50 people went on 29 passes on the second train which departed at 12.30 pm,’’ an official said. ‘‘A train carrying 250 injured passengers and relatives left from the site for Delhi at 10.35 am,’’ he added.
2 pm: No further development, with upset relatives running from from one end to another trying to clutch on to any strand of information they can get.
Asked Vinod Joshi, an employee with United Network, ‘‘Can you tell me something about Ronojoy Ghosh? He was supposed to arrive on official work. Officials are saying there won’t be any new list till late evening.’’ 2.30 pm: List of the dead is put up. It had just four names on it. With figures like 100 or 150 being bandied about, this wasn’t enou gh. But there was another problem. It had names with just initials and surnames. The coach number was not mentioned. This meant if two people with the same initials were on board, relatives were only guessing about the fate of their loved ones.
The helplessness of relatives was even more stark with the information that apart from the first two coaches, the engine and three bogies at the back, all other coaches had been derailed ‘‘to various degrees.’’
3 pm: Inquiry staff say 13 are confirmed dead and the list would be coming in any minute. Seconds later they said the information was not verified and they needed clearance from seniors.
3.30 pm: List of names of 14 dead is finally put up. A sleeper class waiting room was cleared on platform 1 for those who wanted to wait. It was deserted till evening.