Railway Minister P K Bansal, on his part, announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of those killed, Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured and Rs 25,000 each for those with minor injuries.
Bansal blamed the tragedy on tardy crowd management by the local administration.
“All those who have come from far-off places and wish to take their injured family members back to their homes will be provided free AC 2 tier tickets,” Bansal said.
Bansal said “prima facie, the stampede appears to be a result of people entering the station both through the city side as well as the Civil Lines side.”
“This was contrary to the plan the Railways had made in consultation with the local administration according to which crowds had to be directed only through the city side and the Civil Lines side was to be made accessible in the case of emergency with prior information to Railway officials,” Bansal said.
“People should realise that Railways is not supposed to manage crowds. Its duty is to ferry people to their destinations,” he said.
