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Akhilesh Yadav announces aid, says giving relief his govt’s first priority
Akhilesh Yadav said he had a word with railway minister Suresh Prabhu and assured all possible help in the rescue operations.
Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said extending help to victims of the Indore-Patna express train derailment was his government’s priority.
He announced assistance of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of those who were killed, Rs 50,000 each with serious injuries and Rs 25,000 with minor injuries.
Speaking at a function in Lucknow on Sunday morning, Yadav said he had a word with railway minister Suresh Prabhu and assured all possible help in the rescue operations.
The chief minister and others observed a two-minute silence at the function to mourn for those killed in the accident.
When the media asked him if he would demand railways minister Suresh Prabhu’s resignation, the chief minister said his first priority was to rescue people and save lives.
He also said that some of his ministers would visit the accident site to ensure that help is being provided to the victims. The chief minister has instructed the principal secretary, health, to ensure there is no shortage of medicines and blood for treatment of the injured. More ambulances and roadways buses were rushed to the spot for speedy relief operations, Yadav said.
He instructed director general of police Javeed Ahmad to deploy traffic police along the route to ensure green corridor for ambulances to reach hospitals. Many of the injured were admitted in district hospital in Kanpur dehat. The state police chief has been asked to personally monitor the relief operations.
Yadav asked state chief secretary Rahul Bhatnagar to pool in all resources from the neighbouring districts to enable quicker relief operation. He further instructed chief minister to personally monitor the relief operations. The state government made use of its ambulances and special state regional transport buses in the rescue work.
