Bhubaneswar: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought for Action Taken Report (ATR) on the alleged violation of human rights of the passengers of the Odisha train tragedy due to negligence and failure of Railway Authorities.
Taking cognizance of one of the rarest train accidents in India as narrated by Human Rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy, in the petition by the complainant Radhakanta Tripathy, the Apex Human Rights Panel July 11 last sought the ATR from the Chairman, Railway Board, Government of India and Odisha Chief Secretary.
The accident, involving two superfast trains and a goods train, took place June 2 last near Bahanaga Bazar Railway station in Odisha’s Balasore district in which hundreds had died and over a thousand sustained injuries.
The petitioner alleged that clumsy and counterproductive efforts to assuage passengers and attempts to cover up the overarching systemic flaws are going on without adequate care for human rights of the victims.
In his petition, Tripathy alleged that the rights of deceased, injured and other victims are being violated as the state government and the Railway authorities have failed to ensure rights to dead bodies due to lack of adequate space.
Tripathy contended that fake claimants are coming forward to stake claims, and even compensation cases to the next of kin of the deceased victims are pending.
The exact number of deaths is more than the figures declared by the state government, Tripathy said, adding that the injured could not be treated properly and not compensated.
Tripathy further stated that most of the valuables and belongings of the victims were stolen. He requested the NHRC for preventive, compensatory and rehabilitating action with some permanent solution to prevent such incidents and urged the Commission to monitor the case till the last victim gets justice.
UNI