Accident mystery deepens as rly officials disown dumper

ACHHALDA (AURAIYA): With the railway authorities disowning the mud-laden dumper which caused derailment of Kaifiyat Express on Wednesday morning, questions have cropped up as to why and how the vehicle reached the railway track in the dead of the night.

On one side of the railway track there are marshy fields, while on the other is the

dedicated freight corridor

(DFC).

Senior railway officials feigned ignorance about the des tination of the dumper as there is no manned or even unmanned railway crossing at the accident site. They also could not tell what the dumper driver was doing next to the railway track which is part of the busy DelhiHowrah rail route.

“Apparently, the accident occurred when the dumper driver tried to cross the railway tracks to reach `nowhere', and collided with the train. The collision caused the railway coaches to topple in the fields,“ said railway officials.

“The corridor project at the accident site had been completed a month ago and no new work is in progress. Therefore, we have no idea what the dumper was doing at the site,“ said North Central Railway CPRO G K Bansal.

He added, “The dumper does not belong to the Railways and was not involved in any of our projects. In fact, it was a private dumper whose driver somehow took it to the railway track, leading to the accident. We have got an FIR lodged and police are now trying to locate the dumper owner and the driver.“

Local villagers and eyewitnesses told TOI that mining of mud was rampant in the area as it was being used for levelling work of the corridor. Therefore, many trucks and dumpers could be seen in the area.

“Mud is being dug up from our fields in the night by illegal contractors and their men. The digging has created a deep trench in nearby fields,“ said some villagers.

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