Mumbai: In a departure from the usual scenario in which victims of disasters or their kin are seen running from pillar to post for compensation from the government, the Railways made sure compensation was given within hours of victims being identified in the Elphinstone Road stampede. Till now, Western Railway (WR) officials said, more than ₹1.33 crore has been given as compensation to the injured and kin of the deceased.
The WR has already paid compensation to 20 families of those who lost their life in the tragedy, and 33 people who suffered injuries. “We sent our staff to places like Satara and Allahabad to deliver the cheques. This is how we can provide help to them in such a situation,” said a senior WR official.
However, the families of two deceased have refused to accept the amount in cash, and have insisted on cheques. “The families left for Allahabad. On Monday, we will send our staff there to hand over the cheques,” the official added.
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On Sunday, WR staff were sent to the village of Priyanka Balu Pasalkar, located near Pune, to hand over the cheque to her father. Mr. Pasalkar said, “We have lost our daughter and nothing can compensate., but we are thankful to the Railways as they understood our problem and travelled to our village.”
Nidhi Chandrashekhar Shetty, who lost her mother in the stampede, said, “The WR staff visited our home on Saturday and gave the cheque.”
Mukul Jain, Divisional Railway Manager, WR, said, “We have tried to give the ex-gratia amount to each and every injured person and families of the deceased on the same day. We have sent the cheques for the others the next day to their residences after confirming records.”
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