Hathras stampede: Rahul meets families of victims
New Delhi, July 5 :
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Friday met the loco pilots at the New Delhi Railway Station here and listened to their grievances and assured to take up their demands with the government.
During his visit to New Delhi Railway station, Gandhi met around 50 loco pilots from all over India, who presented their issues in front of him. The loco pilots mainly complained of inadequate rest, Congress party said in its post on X.
According to the party, they said that they had to run the trains over long distance and are often pressed into duty without sufficient breaks causing stress and lapses in concentration which are major cause of
Rahul meets loco pilots
accidents. While sharing their grievances, the loco pilots said that the Railways Act 1989 and other rules already provide for 30 + 16 hours of rest per week, which is not being implemented.
Besides rest, the loco pilots also said that their other demand was that two consecutive night duty should be followed by one night of rest and trains should have basic amenities for drivers, the party statement said.
According to the party, over the past four years, the railways recruitment board has not recruited even a single loco pilot despite tens of thousands of vacancies. The pilots expressed their fear that this deliberate move is a plan by the Modi government to privatise the Railways.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi assured the loco pilots that he has been consistently raising the issue of railway privatization and lack of recruitment.
He listened to their concerns and fully supported their demand for adequate rest and expressed hope that this would significantly reduce accidents. As Leader of the Opposition, he promised to take up their demands with the government, the Congress said.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday arrived at Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras and met the families of the stampede victims.
He said that the party is with them in this hour of grief.
Rahul also demanded the state government to find out the reason behind the unfortunate incident and immediate disbursement of appropriate ex-gratia to the families of each deceased.
Later talking to the media ,Gandhi said, “This is a very sad incident. Several people have lost their lives. I don’t want to give it a political colour but there have been lapses from the administration side. We need to find out”.
“The most important thing now is that appropriate compensation should be given, as they come from very poor families and it is a difficult time for them. I also request the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh to see the condition of the people and give them adequate compensation,” the Senior Congress leader said.
He said that the Chief Minister should disburse the ex-gratia amount soon as the families need the same now.
The former Congress President claimed that the families he met have said that there was lapse from the administration side and there was no police arrangement at the site.
As many as 121 people died and many injured in a stampede during a satsang in Hathras on July 2.
