Victims’ kin denied death certificates

PATIALA, Dec 4 — Bereaved relatives of the Jeewanpura rail tragedy are being made to face harassment at the hands of the authorities with non-issuance of death certificates of the victims.

The relatives of the victims who have come from far off places are caught in a bind as the district administration here is claiming that it cannot issue the death certificates as the accident occurred in Fatehgarh Sahib district. A piquant situation has arisen as many bodies have been taken away by relatives without the certificate. Others are waiting to get the certificate .

The forms given to the relatives for claiming compensation amount carries three major requirements — death certificate, a copy of the ration card and the post mortem report. The non-availability of the death certificate will render the claim unfit. This can lead to non-payment by the authorities.

Mr Naveen Mahajan, a brick-kiln owner of Pathankot, is accompanying Sitaram here, whose four relatives were travelling in the train. They are Sanjeevan Ram, Mevalal, Radhelal and Surajpal. The former two survived minor injuries and were discharged yesterday. The latter two expired in the incident. Mr Mahajan revealed that in an accident at Khanna around two years ago, the death certificates were issued on the spot by the then SDM.

Mr Jasbir Singh Bir, Deputy Commissioner, Patiala, said, “We are tying up with the Deputy Commissioner of Fatehgarh Sahib and making arrangements to expedite the process of issuing death certificates. We have received the bodies only for the purpose of conducting postmortem.”

The Deputy Commissioner, Fatehgarh Sahib, was not available for comment. Meanwhile, at Rajindra Hospital, relatives of the deceased are arriving. Some were not even informed of the mishap and came after reading the names in the newspaper. Most of them belong to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

There is no arrangement for the outstation relatives in these cold nights. They have to spend the nights either in trucks or in the tents, if space is available. Under these circumstances most of the relatives prefer to cremate the dead bodies here itself or in nearby areas. However some have taken the bodies back to their places.

Of the 43 dead only 16 have been identified and taken back by the relatives. Fifteen passengers have been discharged after treatment. Twenty six injured victims were admitted in the hospital.

The list of the identified dead is: Hukam Singh of village and post office Khanpur, Gazipur (UP), Sajan Singh, Jhabalkhurad village, Amritsar, Ibrar Ahmed, Anishabad, Patna, Harish Chand, Charpurba Raibarelli, UP, Pankaj Kumar Sinha, Patna, Pankaj Kumar, Bhadia, Bhojpur, Bihar, Rama Shankar Yadav, Gathria, Balia, Bihar, Hardeep Singh, Guru Nanak Basti, Mansa.Back