ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry has submitted a report to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on the Oct 31, 2019 Tezgam train fire, holding 15 people responsible for the tragedy.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani of the Islamabad High Court reserved the judgement on a petition seeking removal of Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and launching of an independent inquiry under the Pakistan Commissioner Inquiry Act, 2017, for the tragedy, which left 75 passengers dead.

The report held a deputy divisional superintendent of the Pakistan Railways, divisional commercial officer, station house officers of Hyderabad and Khanpur, Claim Inspector, head constables and a member of Tableeghi Jamaat, contractor and staff of the dining car responsible for the incident.

The report claimed that as a precaution to avoid similar incidents in future, the Pakistan Railways had taken certain measures, including the tightening of security in railway stations, a complete ban on carrying gas cylinders and other inflammatory material and surprise inspection of coaches.

The report further said that a sum of Rs73.5 million among legal heirs of 49 deceased and Rs1.9m among 32 injured people had been distributed.

The report further said that periodic meetings to ensure proper safety and security of the passengers had also been made a routine feature in different divisions of railway.

Earlier, the Pakistan Railways had also submitted a report to the court.

The Pakistan Railways informed the court that strict monitoring of trains had now been started with checking of computerised national identity cards of all passengers and night vision CCTV cameras having been installed in all railway stations of the country.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2020