Accidents on tracks: Railways collect visual proof against compensation claims
According to railway officials, people injured even four years ago approach the Railway Claims Tribunal demanding compensation.
SINCE the turn of the new year, the Western Railway and the Central Railway have started collecting videos of railway accidents. The objective is to have evidence against those claiming compensation after an accident.
According to railway officials, people injured even four years ago approach the Railway Claims Tribunal demanding compensation. Records reveal that more than 2,000 injured commuters have applied for compensation over the last three years.
Citing the “a lot of paperwork”, senior officials claimed that they were at times unable to produce evidence to prove or disprove a compensation claim.
[related-post]
“Though the railway police investigate the accidents, at the time of compensation, it is only the railways who need to provide proof to the compensation tribunal. Since the beginning of the year, we have started to stock CCTV camera footage and any mobile videos regarding an accident,” said Shailendra Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager, Western Railways. The move, Kumar said, was also to keep independent records and not depend on the railway police.
The Western Railway head office at Churchgate claims to receive at least four handwritten letters from motormen on a daily basis, notifying their superiors of such incidents of injured and dead caused by trains entering and leaving railway platforms.
A senior official in charge of the Mumbai Divisional Security (central line) said the new practice involves a security official making DVDs of the incident from the video footage and storing them with the other details of the incident.
“By keeping footage, we can verify most claims of an injured person,” said the security official who examines incidents captured on the 1,800 CCTV cameras on the Central and Harbour Line.
According to CR spokesperson A K Singh, many people approach claims tribunals saying they have been pushed off a train. “But scrutinising the CCTV reveals they injured themselves while trying to get onto a running train.”
rohit.alok@expressindia.com
Share
