Mizoram bridge collapse: Bodies of workers reach Bengal; Guv visits bereaved families

Bodies of 18 of the 23 labourers who were killed in the railway bridge collapse in Mizoram reached West Bengal's Malda district on Friday while five others will come the next day, District Magistrate Nitin Singhania said.

West Bengal Governor Dr C V Ananda Bose went to Malda district by train and visited the families of several of the labourers who died in the northeastern state, and distributed cheques of compensation provided by the railways to them.

The ruling TMC wondered why the Governor, and not the railway minister or a senior railway official, visited the bereaved families and distributed the cheques.

The bodies were also not preserved properly, local TMC MP Samirul Islam claimed.

The under-construction railway bridge in the Bairabi-Sairang new line project in Aizawl district collapsed on Wednesday, killing 23 workers. Three others who were injured are undergoing treatment in a hospital in Mizoram.

“Altogether 18 bodies reached Malda. Other bodies will come tomorrow. After identification of the bodies, they are being sent to their respective villages. last rites will be performed,” the district magistrate said.

Following the direction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, arrangements for the last of the deceased - cremation or burial - will be arranged, he said.

Soon after reaching Malda, the Governor went to three villages — Choudhuhar, Koklamari and Kutubganj - and met family members of a few of those killed and distributed cheques on behalf of the Indian Railway, a source at the Governor's office said.

"The Governor went to three remote villages and spoke to the family members of those killed in the accident. He handed over compensation amount of Rs 10 lakh each on behalf of the railway minister," the official told PTI.

Bose said that he would take a call on how to assist the family members of those killed in the Mizoram accident after meeting them.

"I understand from the DRM here, and also from the tweets of the railway minister, that the railways are granting a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to those grievously injured and Rs 50,000 to those who suffered minor injuries," he said.

The West Bengal Governor reached Malda by Yuva Express after the Vande Bharat Express, in which he was scheduled to travel this morning, was cancelled due to some technical glitches.

Bose, who travelled in the second class of Yuva Express, took telephone calls on the moving train and issued instructions to officials to address various grievances of the public.

"He also talked to Jadavpur University officiating Vice Chancellor and students over the phone in connection with the current fiasco there," the Raj Bhavan official said.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam alleged that the Governor cannot distribute cheques of compensation for railways.

"The distribution of cheques by the governor is unconstitutional. The railway minister or a senior railway official should have come. We fail to understand why the Governor is doing this. He is indulging in politics. He met only 13 families and not the 10 others. He has time to visit a horticulture garden and meet political parties. But he does not have time to meet families of all those who died," he said.

Islam asked why adequate safety arrangements were not made for the workers by the railways in Mizoram.

"The bodies were not preserved in a proper manner. The railway officials should have done it properly. The labourers were working on a railway project. Our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has demanded that the railways should provide jobs to the next of kin of those who died. The families also raised the same demand before the Governor," he said.