Not a monkeys business: Railways

The Northern Railways (NR) on Saturday said the Tuesdays incident,in which an engine was allegedly driven by a monkey in Alambagh diesel shed,was caused due to the negligence of a railway staff.

Divisional Railway Manager (DRM),NR,Chahatey Ram said,It was a human mistake and no monkey was involved in the incident. The DRM said the inquiry in the incident is over and a shed-man,Mata Prasad,has been suspended. According to the inquiry report,the engine started moving on its own as it was stationed on a slope area and probably Prasad had not put on the brakes properly after parking it inside the shed for maintenance work.

Ram said since the shed-man drives and controls the engine inside the shed,Mata Prasad has been held responsible for incident. Mata Prasad has been suspended and a charge-sheet has been issued to him, Ram said.

Mata Prasad refuted the charges and said,It was raining on Tuesday evening and I took shelter near the engine. Suddenly some monkeys entered into the engine and soon after it start moving. He claimed that it was the fault of the shunt-man,who went away after leaving the engine running. Mata Prasad claimed that he sustained injury in his right arm while trying to stop the engine by putting rod in between the wheels.

A few staff at the shed also claimed that some monkeys inside the engine had pressed the lever. The engine parked in the diesel shed had hit the other two engines stationed on the same track after someone pressed the lever and set the engine in motion. One of the other two engines had travelled about 200 m before getting bogged in muddy ground,just 15 m short of a row of shops on the busy Kanpur Road.

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