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Railway Minister Mukul Roy on Tuesday blamed the van driver for the major accident at an unmanned level crossing near Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, which claimed 16 lives.
In his first statement in Parliament after assuming office, Roy said Rs two lakh have been announced for the next of the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the grievously injured, besides Rs 25,000 to those with minor injury.
Sixteen people were killed and three others seriously injured when the Mathura-Kasganj Express rammed into an overcrowded vehicle at an unmanned railway crossing on Tuesday morning.
"As per preliminary information, the incident occurred due to negligent driving by the driver of the mini-van. The driver did not stop his van at the stop board short of level crossing to check for approaching train as prescribed," Roy said in a suo motu statement in Lok Sabha.
He said medical relief was immediately dispatched from Kasganj through an accident relief train. He said locals and civic authorities had shifted the injured to nearby hospitals by the time the relief train arrived at the spot.
The injured were moved to a local hospital at Badhwa and those requiring special medical attention were sent to the medical college at Aligarh.
Roy said, "The accident took place at the unmanned level crossing C which has very low traffic density".