Bhawanipatna: A bench of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed the chairman, Railway Board, to take appropriate measures within eight weeks to ensure that commuters are not detained for more than five to ten minutes at a railway gate.
In this connection, the NHRC cited a case of a snakebite victim who died after the ambulance ferrying her to a hospital had to stop at the railway level-crossing due to closure of the railway gate, a report said.
The victim was identified as Rekha Bag, a minor girl of Belakhandi village under Kesinga block in Kalahandi district. Rekha started frothing from her mouth after she was bitten by a poisonous snake.
Family members rushed her in an ambulance to the Kesinga hospital and were nearing a railway level-crossing when they found the gate closed. As a result, they had to stop for over half an hour at the gate and left only after it was opened for traffic.
However, it was then too late as the doctors at the hospital pronounced her dead on arrival. Family members claimed that her life could have been saved had she arrived at the hospital on time.