700 Indian Railways employees lost their lives to Covid-19

The Indian Railways on Saturday said that 700 of its employees among the 30,000 that got infected with Covid-19 in the past nine months have died.

Most of those who passed away were working amidst the general public to facilitate the running of trains during the pandemic, said a Railways official.

The Railways operated Shramik Special trains in the initial days to ferry migrant workers and ran subsequent special trains to ferry the general public.

"They were frontline workers who helped the railways facilitate the movement of migrants and run the special trains. They were on platforms and in areas where catching the infection was most probable," said an official.

The national transporter also opened Covid-19 care centres and Covid-19 care facilities in every zone and division for its employees. In the beginning, the Railways had dedicated 74 hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients.

Earlier in September, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed the Parliament that 336 deaths and 14,714 infections among railway employees were reported.

The minister also said no compensation is granted to the families of the Railways employees who die while performing their bona fide duties.

Compensation is granted in the form of ex gratia payment as per the guidelines of the Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare. However, death on the account of any disease is not included in these guidelines.