RailEnquiry

Bathinda : A surprise mock drill conducted by the Railways Ambala Division left the city-based NGOs and mediaperons perplexed. The railways chose a rather busy day - panchayat samiti elections - to hold the drill.At 3 pm, the media offices got calls from various quarters of the city claiming that a tragedy had happened at the unmanned railway crossing near Katar Singh Wala village. It was claimed that a truck rammed into a moving train killing four persons in the accident.The office of the Deputy Station Superintendent asked the Sahara Welfare Society and Young Welfare Society to send three ambulances and manpower for the rescue work.NGO president Vijay Goyal said two ambulances reached the spot, while third one was on its way when the NGO was told that it was a mock drill. “Whenever the oil depot companies hold a mock drill, they send a letter informing about the event to the NGOs at least 10 days in advance. It is up to the NGOs whether they want to participate in the drill or not,” said Goyal.However, in this case, the railway authorities kept the entire mock drill under the wraps. A member of the NGO said people suffered because of the fake call as help could not reach them on time.“Had we been informed that it was a mock drill, we would have preferred not to participate and instead concentrate on our social work,” said Goyal.Government Railways Police SHO Kuljeet Singh and officials of the district police were not aware about the event.It is learnt that even the railway officials were caught unawares. The office of Bathinda station superintendent got a call at 12.20 noon from the Ambala control room that a truck had collided with
a train near the Katar Singh Wala unmanned railway crossing.Following the protocol meant for such situations, the railway authorities at Bathinda got into action and immediately sent a medical train and an accident relief train to the accident site.At 12.40 noon, when a team of 42 officials reached track near the Bathinda cantonment, they again received a call from the Ambala division headquarters asking the officials to report their geographic position.“We told them that the entire team was on its way for the rescue operation. At this we were told that it was a surprise mock drill and that we have passed the test,” said one of the railway officials.