RESIDENTS OF nearby areas, milkmen and taxi drivers cashed in on leakage from a diesel wagon at track number 3 in the Gorakhpur railway station yard on Sunday.
However, the leak did create some panic as two petrol pumps were nearby. No fire was reported.
Milkmen, taxi drivers and residents were seen taking buckets and containers full of diesel, which had flown down drains and a road. Though railway officials claimed that it was water mixed with diesel, as railway staff had washed the tanker, local people were confident it was diesel.
Umesh, a resident, said Railway officials were trying to cover up their negligence. The possibility of a bid to loot diesel in the wee hours could not be ruled out. North Eastern Railway’s chief public relations officer Manoj Kumar said that according to the mechanical staff of the Railways it was not pure diesel.
The Railway officials were very watchful in view of the Meerut fire tragedy and the fuel flowing into a drain was mixed with water. A similar incident had taken place on March 24, 2005, when around 30,000 litres of railway diesel was wasted due to seepage in the pipeline. Sources said diesel was to be offloaded at the railway station, but seepage from an outdated pipeline caused a huge loss to the railway department.
The second incident within a year raised serious questions about the security of railway property. Only an inquiry can reveal whether the incident was the result of laxity, or whether there was more to the entire episode than met the eye. The DRM, Lucknow, had set up an inquiry following the March 24, 2005 incident.
{{/usCountry}}The second incident within a year raised serious questions about the security of railway property. Only an inquiry can reveal whether the incident was the result of laxity, or whether there was more to the entire episode than met the eye. The DRM, Lucknow, had set up an inquiry following the March 24, 2005 incident.
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