28 May 2010

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65 killed as Maoist attack - Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express derailed –

65 killed as Maoist attack - Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express derailed –
Reality Views by sm
Friday, May 28, 2010

This is the second Maoist attack on civilians this month.
At least sixty five passengers were killed and 200 injured when 13 coaches of Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express derailed in West Midnapore district at 1.30 am after after Maoists sabotaged the train tracks. Five of these coaches were also hit by a speeding goods train.



The incident occurred at 1:30 am when the train was running between Khemasoli and Sardiya stations, about 135 km from Kolkata.
Angry passengers said the first signs of relief came only around 5 am, three-and-a-half hours after the incident.
The Maoist-backed People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) has claimed responsibility for the derailment of the train.

"The PCAPA have left two posters near the rail tracks clearly owning responsibility for the derailment of the Kurla-bound Gyaneswari Express," IGP (Law and Order) S Karpurakayastha said.

The posters read, "We earlier demanded withdrawal of the joint security forces from Jangalmahal (West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia) and end of CPM atrocities, but those demands were not met."

Another poster demanded immediate withdrawal of the joint forces from the area. Police have seized both posters.

Relief officials used gas cutters to extricate trapped passengers and bodies from the mangled remains of the affected coaches.

While Home Minister P Chidambaram has said that train derailment in West Bengal appears to be a case of sabotage, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee says bomb blasts as part of a “calculated attack” caused the Gyaneshwari Express to first derail and then get hit by a goods train.
Five of the 13 derailed coaches fell on an adjacent track and were hit by a goods train coming from the opposite direction
In Calcutta Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Surojit Karpurokayastha said that according to preliminary investigation, fish plates were found removed at the derailment site.

Indian Air Force helicopters were pressed into service at the accident spot to airlift some of the injured to the hospitals.
Nine of the coaches which were not damaged in the blast took the injured and the other passengers to Kharagpur where they were admitted to hospital.
A relief train left Kharagpur with a team of 12 doctors and 20 paramedics as also two doctors from the Kalaikunda airbase, the officials said.

The Prime Minister announced Rs two lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.
Railway Minister Banerjee announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the next of kin of each of the dead and Rs 1 lakh for the injured.

Helplines have been set up at
Kharagpur - (03222) 255751 and 255735,
Howrah -- (033) 26382217, besides a toll free number 10722.
Helplines have also been set up at Tatanagar (0657) 2290324, 2290074, 2290382,
at Rourkela (0661) 2511155,
Chakradharpur (06587) 238072 and Jharsuguda (06445) 270977.

Following the mishap, a number of trains in the region have been cancelled and some have been diverted as well.




List of cancelled trains:

Howrah-Barbil Jan Shatabdi

Howrah-Titlagarh Express

Tata Nagar-Howrah express

Titlagarh Howrah Express

List of diverted trains:

Puri-Howrah-via KGP,MDN

Puri-New Delhi- via KGP, MDN

Howrah-Ahmedabad- via KGP, MDN

Porbander-Howrah-Via Tata, CNI

Pune-Howrah-Vias Tata, CNI

CSTM-Howrah

Here is the first list of injured released by the Indian Railways.


List of injured admitted in Khargpur Railway Hospital:

Imtiaz Ali Sheikh - 34 (M)

Saurabh Bhadra - 20 (M)

Sushmita Guha - 42 (F)

Subhashish Guha - 40 (M)

Mohad Amin - 58 (M)

Hamida Julia Biswas - 18 (F)

Shantanu Mitra - 36 (M)

Samil Bhai Turkia - 65 (M)

Juhi Sadhu Khan - 19 (F)

Srikant Nag - 24 (M)

Shankar Manka - 25 (M)

Vandana Dutta - 45 (F)

Mala Sen - 50 (F)

Sunil Saha - 53 (M)

Aftab Hussain Mondal - 16 (M)

Meira Devi Tibriwal - 60 (F)

Manisha Ghari - age not given

S K Manirul - 20 (M)

Shreya Sen - 22 (F)

Salma Sheikh - age not given (F)

Rukasana Sheikh- age not given (F)

Lal Mohan Sadhu Khan - 50 (M)

Tapat Sadhu Khan - age not given (M)

Hasibul Rehman - age not given (M)

Nirday Kumar - age not given (M)

Moni Gupta - age not given (F)

Sangeeta Kumari - age not given (F)

Beena Gupta - age not given (F)

Raju Sheikh - age not given (M)

Swapan Haldar - age not given (M)

Subhash Bhattacharjee - age not given (M)

Anil Kumar Kamakar - age not given (M)

Uma Gupta - age not given (F)

Lata Seth - age not given (F)

Mahabir - age not given (M)

Alla Rakha - age not given (M)

N C Roy - age not given (M)

Megha Gupta - age not given (F)

Neeraj Nikhil Roy - age not given (M)

Matuf Mandal - age not given (M)

Aashit Sheikh - age not given (M)

Hisbul Rehman - age not given (M)

One girl child (name not known) - 4

Boy child (name not known) - 2

One girl child (name not known) - 4

Boy child (name not known) - 2

Girl child (name not known) - 3

18 comments:

kat,  May 28, 2010  

very sad

Anonymous,  May 29, 2010  

OK. Just one point.....has there been any independent confirmation from the maoists or the PCPA that this was their bloodbath? I mean how can people be so naive to believe the IGP---- Inspector General of Police, who himself is leading an attack on the PCPA----- that the PCPA have triggered this atrocity? I mean, till now their hasn't been any independent confirmation from the home ministry itself.....Think about it..

SM May 29, 2010  

Anonymous,
Thanks.
"The PCAPA have left two posters near the rail tracks clearly owning responsibility for the derailment of the Kurla-bound Gyaneswari Express," IGP (Law and Order) S Karpurakayastha said.

The posters read, "We earlier demanded withdrawal of the joint security forces from Jangalmahal (West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia) and end of CPM atrocities, but those demands were not met."

After reading this one has to believe it, if they did not do it then it is their duty to come forward and say it , we are not responsible for this mess and killing, if they do not say so.

BK Chowla, May 29, 2010  

Unless, we as a nation have a policy and a strategy, such attacks will continue.

sm,  May 29, 2010  

BK Chowla,,
yes i agree with you we need to change and reform laws and policies.

Insignia May 29, 2010  

It was sad to read this piece of news. What have the poor civilians done? When will the reforms happen is the question

sm,  May 29, 2010  

The toll in the Gyaneswari Express disaster today climbed to 114 with the recovery of more bodies from the mangled coaches

Admin May 29, 2010  

What should I say...these things are not stopping at all. Infact, it has become a common scenario today. Innocent people are paying price for nothing. The government looks impotent. The maoists have lost their conscience...can't understand their motive behind these violence and killings. What are they hoping from all these shit? Can anyone answer me ???

sm,  May 30, 2010  

Insignia,
thanks

sm,  May 30, 2010  

ASWANI,
thanks.
Its very difficult to understand Naxals and what they want.

sm,  May 30, 2010  

Marc,
thanks

sm,  May 30, 2010  

Bengal Police sources have told CNN-IBN that People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) leaders Umakanto Mahato and Bapi Mahato planned and executed the derailment of the Gyaneshwari Express between Khemasoli and Sardiya stations near Jhargram, about 150 km from Kolkata.

Umakanto Mahato and Bapi Mahato with the help of some disgruntled PCPC cadres abducted a railway lineman Dayaram Mahato posted at Sardiha station from his house at about 9:30 PM on Thursday night after threatening him and his family.

The PCPA leaders warned Mahato that his entire family would be killed if he did not accompany them and carried out their orders.

The PCPA leaders then forced Mahato to open pandrol clips, which fix the track to the sleepers, at around 1 AM on Friday as they knew that Gyaneshwari Express would be passing the area in about 15-20 minutes. Mahato was chosen to for the job as an experienced guy can remove the pandrol clips in just a few minutes where it would have taken almost an hour for inexperienced person to do the same.
Umakanto Mahato along with a few PCPA members remained at the site with the lineman while Bapi Mahato went to Sardiha station and blocked a goods train. He let the goods train go after getting go ahead from fellow cadres from the accident site. The goods train ploughed into some bogies of the derailed Gyaneshwari Express which led to more people being killed and injured.
However, West Bengal police sources claimed that the attack was not planned the by Maoist top leadership and the PCPA local leaders planned it on their own. They said that there has been divisions within party ranks recently.
Naxals have already denied their hand in the train attack. A Naxal spokesperson Akash said that they had no involvement in the attack and added that they would call a public court and punish the guilty.

sm,  May 30, 2010  

ASWANI,
thanks.What they hope, just to understand this i have started to follow and write on this.

sm,  May 30, 2010  

Marc,
thanks

sm,  May 30, 2010  

The Maoist-backed People's Committee against Police Atrocities organization
Denied any involvement in the incident and charged the CPI-M with "hatching the plot".

"We will take out a procession in the Jangalmahal to mourn the dead in the train disaster. We strongly condemn such acts which take lives of common, innocent men and we express deep shock,"
"We have no intention to target trains and we condemn and mourn such a colossal loss of civilian lives," PCPA convener, Asit Mahato said over telephone

Now this has became a political game, and common citizen has became a bakra in this fight.

sm,  May 30, 2010  

May 30, 2010
In Malkangiri (Orissa) The Maoists set off an explosion, destroying the village panchayat office and a nearby godown building in Orissa's Malkangiri district.
Reason for attack – to prevent security personnel from camping in those building. According to police a team of 50 Maoists attacked Kangurukunda village at Kalimela block of the District.Kangurukunda is over 40 kilometers from Malkangiri.

sm,  June 01, 2010  

A leader of the Naxal-backed People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) accused of planning and executing the derailment of the Howrah-Kurla Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Super Deluxe Express train in West Bengal, has admitted that his group was behind the sabotage, but added that they were not planning to target civilians.
PCPA leader Bapi Mahato told The Indian Express that they were planning to target a goods train and not a passenger train.

teddy,  June 06, 2010  

It was sad to read this piece of news.