By our Correspondent
Palakkad: The Railways terminated the cleaning contract given to Munavvar Thonikkadavath following the death of four cleaning workers on the Bharathapuzha bridge near Shornur railway station after they were knocked down by a train on Nov 02 afternoon.
The Railways also started criminal proceedings against the contractor for failure to ensure the safety of the workers involved in cleaning the tracks.
In an official statement here yesterday the Railways said that the cleaning workers had violated the safety norms being followed during the track cleaning. “There is provision for for ensuring the safety of workers in case on incoming train on the track, so that the workers can move out of the track safely”.
However, the statement clarified that Bharathapuzha bridge, on which the workers hit by the train , did not “fall in the scope of the rag picking”. The contractor was assigned the work on clearing the waste on the tracks between 1/600 km and 1/900 km for which there is direct road access via level crossing, the statement added.
The Railways said that the laborers took the bridge instead of using the road without informing Railway officials. “Since no railway work was planned on the bridge, no railway protection was available on the bridge.
In spite of the facts, the Railways have granted an aid of One lakh rupee each of the deceased’s immediate family members.
Meanwhile, the body of the fourth victim , Lakshmanan, 48 years, was recovered from the Bharathapuzha on the evening of Nov 03. The body was found about 200 meters west of the bridge after a day-long search by the Fire Force personnel and Rescue Service personnel.
Lakshmanan’s wife Rani 45 was among the four workers hit by the Kerala Express on Nov 2. The bodies of Rani, her sister Valli (55), and Lakshmanan (60) were released to their relatives after the post-mortem examination on Nov 03.
