Toll climbs to 70,300 injured

Officials at the site said they were not in a position to predict the time it would take for rail traffic to be restored. “There are several unforeseen situations which keep cropping up. We are trying to restore the stretch as early as possible,” said an official,speaking on condition of anonymity.

Rainfall in the area on Monday also affected the restoration work. After the track is cleared and the broken portions are replaced,the authorities will have to work towards restoring the overhead electricity lines. Divisional Railway Manager B K Agarwal personally supervised the operations.

The Army personnel involved in the rescue operations left at around 2 pm on Monday as the possibility of finding any survivors diminished. Among the survivors was an MBBS doctor,who reportedly asked workers to cut one of his arms to enable his rescue. He was taken to Kanpur.

“It was only after the Army came on the scene that the rescue work actually began. The Railways authorities simply did not seem to be equipped to handle the tragedy. They either did not have the tools or didn’t have sufficient staff,” said Dhananjay Dwivedi,who was among the locals involved in the rescue work.

“A large number of survivors,who were caught in the mangled heap,are alive only because the locals came in to help. With the Army coming in,it finally felt like a rescue operation was going on. The administration here only seemed interested in passing the buck and waiting for the Army to arrive,” he said.

Later in the afternoon,the local and the railway police carried out a “search operation” for abandoned baggage. “These bags will be kept with the Railway Protection Force officials and will be handed over to the claimants,” said a police personnel. However,many passengers recuperating in the city hospital complained that their luggage was missing.

Meanwhile,when asked about the allegations that the administration was not up to the task,Chief Development Officer,Mahendra Chaurasia,who is also looking after the charge of the District Magistrate,said all the explanations have already been given. “I don’t have anything to say to this,” he said.

The North Central Railway zone chief PRO,Sandeep Mathur,maintained that railway doctors reached the site within two hours of the incident and attended to a large number of the injured at the spot. “Of course,the Army has the expertise in situations like this. We did our best and they did what they are good at,” said Mathur.

Chief Medical Superintendent of the city hospital,Fatehpur,Dr Rakesh Kumar,said that with patients getting discharged,those being accommodated in nursing homes across the city and also in the marriage hall opposite the hospital were being brought back to the city hospital. “In all,the support from the local population has been tremendous,” he said.