Kendrapara: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has warned the Chief Secretary (CS) of Odisha and the Indian Railway Board (IRB) Chairman to invoke its coercive power u/s 13 of the PHR Act, 1993 calling for their personal appearances before the Commission in connection with the Bahanaga train tragedy report.
The action will be taken if they fail to submit the requisite report related to the accident within a period of four weeks.
The NHRC passed the order last week on a petition filed by human rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy.
Tripathy in his petition stated that the rare and tragic train accident happened in Bahanaga Bazaar station in Balasore June 2 due to gross negligence of the Railways.
There have been subsequent violations of human rights of the passengers, both dead and alive, due to a lack of appropriate and timely action by the Railways and State administration, he alleged.
ALSO READ | Balasore triple train accident: Signal staff union welcomes bail to three accused
Tripathy said that the rights of deceased/ victims are being violated by the state Government/Railways as the authorities have failed to preserve the bodies till identification of the same by their kin.
He said dead bodies are still lying for disposal and fake claimants are coming forward to stake claims for which the compensation cases to the next of kin of the deceased victims are pending.
The petitioner requested the NHRC for an in-depth analysis, independent and impartial investigation of the incident and sought for heavy compensation to the family members of the deceased, dignified farewell of the dead bodies and compensation with proper medical care to the injured ones.
He also sought for intervention of the administration and Railways for proper documentation of all the passengers for loss of documents and preparation of further documents for claiming insurance and service benefits, Students, children care etc.
Earlier the NHRC had sought Action Taken Reports from the Odisha CS and the IRB Chairman, within a period of four weeks.
However, despite direction, neither the CS nor the Chairman submitted any report till date.
PNN
