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Railway bridge mishap in Ludhiana: Blame game erupts between GRP and engineering department
A senior GRP official said, “We are going to summon a senior official of the engineering department in a day or two since it is a great negligence from their sid, if not the height gauge, they should have at least installed the cross bar between the two iron pillars installed near the bridge in Ludhiana ”
As many as eleven days after a 23-year-old man died after his head rammed into a railway bridge near Jassian road, while he was sitting on the roof of a tipper truck, the Government Railway Police and the engineering department at the Ludhiana railway station have come at loggerheads.
A senior GRP official said, “We are going to summon a senior official of the engineering department in a day or two since it is a great negligence from their side. If not the height gauge, they should have at least installed the cross bar between the two iron pillars installed near the bridge which could have refrained the trucks from colliding into the bridge while passing through it. The life of the labourer could have been saved.”
Another officer, part of the investigating team, said the incident could not act as a wake-up call for the engineering department as they have so far not installed the height gauge.
“Around 1,000 vehicles pass through the aforesaid railway bridge. They can at least install a barrier in the centre, so that only vehicles with less height can pass through. Such collisions can damage the safety parameters of the railway bridge. Many passenger trains, including Vande Bharat, run on the bridge,” said a railway official.
On the other hand, assistant divisional engineer Kapil Vats said security men are confusing it with a road-under-bridge (RUB) but actually it is a water-way bridge. “Security forces should not allow public movement there and that should be considered as trespassing. As per the rules, no height gauge can be installed near the water-way bridge,” he said.
Vats said all the parameters were in place as found during inspection post collision.
Ridiculing the same, a senior GRP official said if it was a water-way bridge, the railways should have banned the entry of the people since the beginning but vehicles pass through the same in large numbers.
“Engineering department will have to compensate the family if found guilty of negligence,” said a railway official.
The incident
The deceased Ajay Kumar of Uttar Pradesh had reached Ludhiana ten days before his death in search of work. He was that time residing in Jassisan village.
The driver miscalculated the height of the bridge and tried to pass the vehicle through it.
Government Railway Police (GRP) officials said Kumar was seated on the top of the compressor when his head rammed into the bridge, after which he died on the spot.
The driver was eventually arrested and was booked under Section 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code at local GRP Thana.
