Former MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu, who was the chief guest at the Dussehra celebrations in Amritsar where over 61 people were killed in a mishap, hit back at local leaders who accused her of indifference saying she continued to give a speech as people were getting struck down by a train.

Navjot Kaur Sidhu said she had left just before the incident adding that she got a call about the tragedy only 15 minutes after her leaving the site of the mishap. “The effigy of Ravana was burnt and I had just left the site when the incident happened. The priority is to get the injured treated,” she said.

While ANI quoted some eyewitnesses accusing the Congress of holding the event without prior permission, Sidhu called out against politicising the mishap. “Dussehra celebrations are held there every year. People who are doing politics over this incident should be ashamed,” the wife of cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu added.

“We burnt the Ravan effigies at six places today. Most of them were near the railway track. They (railway authorities) should have at least issued directions to slow down the speed of the train. Such a big mistake,” she said.

Sidhu further said that she did not expect such an incident to take place when the police were present all around the area. “Now we are being told that railway authorities did not even slow down the train and that people were standing on the tracks,” she said.

A train plowed into a crowd that had spilled over to a railway track Friday evening to watch Dussehra fireworks on the outskirts of Amritsar in Punjab, killing at least 61 people. About 72 others are reported to be injured, many of them seriously.

First Published: Oct 20, 2018 00:22 IST