Amritsar: Police commando\, photojournalist injured as protesters clash with cops; traffic restored

Amritsar: Police commando, photojournalist injured as protesters clash with cops; traffic restored

Press Trust of India  |  Amritsar 

A police commando and a were injured Sunday when security personnel removed protesters from a rail track where 59 Dussehra revellers were mowed down by a train, officials said.

On Friday evening, a gathering of more than 300 people were on the tracks

to watch the burning of a Ravana effigy when the speeding train struck leaving 59 dead and scores injured.

The first goods train started from to at 1416 hours, Northern Railways told PTI, adding this is being followed by mail/express trains.

The railways got the clearance from local authorities at 12:30 pm to restore services, the railway said.

"resumed on the affected rail track near Joda Phatak," (Railways), Firozpur Division, S Sudharkar said.

Earlier in the day, the Police cleared the track off the protesters who were staging a sit-in.

They resorted to stone-pelting and clashed with security personnel after being removed, officials said.

A police commando and a were injured during the clash, they said.

The protestors were raising slogans against the and demanding resignation of Punjab Sidhu.

The has deployed its personnel, including commandoes, to manage the crowd. The was also present in the Joda Patak area, officials said.

Meanwhile, directed the administration to prepare detailed socio-economic profiles of victims.

Singh, who met some of the survivors in hospitals Saturday, was particularly moved by tales of two young women who lost their entire family including children and husbands, and in one case her in-laws, an official release said.

Anguished at the plight of such survivors, Singh told that the government needed to do more than just giving Rs 5 lakh ex gratia, especially in cases where victims were poor.

The senior announced that a proper system would be worked out to ensure that such survivors were rehabilitated by the state at the earliest.

He also directed that ration, clothing, medicines etc be provided to the families of the victims as most were from the economically weaker sections of the society.

Singh reviewed the relief and rehabilitation work with the of ministers headed by state Health Brahm Mohindra, and directed them to take immediate steps for early disbursement of the compensation.

All steps should be taken for the effective rehabilitation of the survivors and families of the victims, he added.

The was set up by the on Friday, immediately after the disaster struck.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sun, October 21 2018. 16:15 IST