Laloo to work on safety

Describing the Matsyagandha Express derailment as a challenge, Railway Minister Laloo Yadav said ‘‘railway safety and mordernisation’’ would get topmost priority in his budget. Yadav, enroute to the spot in an IAF plane, said funds would not be a problem in addressing the two issues. Steps would have to be taken to ‘‘win the confidence of passengers’’.

Yadav announced Rs 1 lakh compensation for the victims’ families and Rs 15,000 for the injured. Railway Board Chairman R.K. Singh said the train struck boulders that fell from an open cutting above.