Allahabad railway station stampede: Relatives of victims heckle district official

Allahabad: Hours after a stampede left over 30 Maha Kumbh pilgrims dead in a stampede at the Allahabad railway station on Sunday, many people are blaming the railway authorities and some looking for their loved ones at the hospital are also complaining of poor administration.

The Allahabad Divisional Commissioner was heckled outside a hospital by people alleging that they were asked for Rs 1,200 for shroud to cover the dead. However, he denied the claims of the people. "No one was asked for money by the hospital authorities," Allahabad Divisional Commissioner Devesh Chaturvedi said.

Many people also claimed that while the hospital authorities said they will soon release the list of those dead, nothing had come out yet.

Those at the railway station were also struggling to get information about trains. "We've been on the road all of last night. We don't have any information about trains," said a pilgrim, Rajkumari. Another pilgrim, Dinesh Upadhyay, added, "There should be barriers to control the crowd. There was no such arrangement anywhere."

People blamed the police for not making arrangements for crowds to thin down. "The police isn't making arrangements at the ground or the station. If they make arrangements for us to leave, the crowding will decrease," a pilgrim, Mohanlal, said.

At least 36 pilgrims were killed and many were injured in a stampede at the Allahabad railway station. Authorities fear the death toll could rise further. Eyewitnesses say a police lathicharge triggered the chaos.

Railway Minister PK Bansal dismissed the reports of the collapse of a foot-over bridge at the Allahabad railway station and said adequate arrangements were made at the station. "The reports of foot-over bridge collapsing are not true. There were too many people on the foot-over bridge, which led to the stampede. Railway arrangements were adequate," Bansal said.

Here are the helplines numbers:

New Delhi Railway Station helpline: 011-23342954, 011-23341074

Nizamuddin Railway Station helpline: 011-24357660

Chandauli and Mughalsarai Railway Stations helpline number: 05412-73678, 05412-254115