New Delhi: Commenting over the issue of the lack of adequate medical facilities in trains and stations often resulting in deaths of passengers, the Supreme Court said that there was surely something “terribly wrong” with the Railways.
Last week in Lok Sabha, railways had admitted that more than 1,600 passengers died on board trains in the past three years.
“You (Railways) do not have even the basic first aid facility? You are not telling us about it. If it (medical facility) is not there, then there is something terribly wrong,” a bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said.
The bitter remarks by the Apex Court came while it was hearing an issue over the death of a man at the platform of Vijayawada railway station after de-boarding a train.
As per the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC), the man died due to a heart attack. The commission had heard the case earlier.
The top court had asked the counsel appearing in the court for the Railway Board to file an affidavit within the time frame of two weeks giving details of the medical facilities at railway stations.
The top court was hearing an appeal filed by the Railway Board against the judgment of the NCDRC on February 20, in which the commission upheld the Rs. 10 lakh compensation awarded by a state consumer commission to the widow of a passenger who had died.
Referring to the facts of the case, the bench wondered, “A person had collapsed at the railway station. He was lying there for hours and no one gave him medical help.”
The Railways’ counsel said that he would file an affidavit giving details of medical facilities provided at the stations.
The NCDRC had noted that the man was traveling from the Secunderabad station to Vijayawada in the Golconda Express and had de-boarded the train at about 8 pm.
The commission had accepted that he had died at one of the platforms of Vijayawada railway station and the authorities noticed his body only after four hours.
The deceased’s wife had said in her plea filed in the district consumer forum for compensation, that no medical aid was provided to her husband which led to his death.
At first, her plea was dismissed by the district consumer forum and after that, she had approached the state commission.
In April last year, the state commission had allowed her appeal and directed the Railways to pay a total compensation of Rs. 10 lakh.
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