LAHORE, March 10: Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has said it is for the first time in the history of railways that any accident victims and their heirs have been given compensation within such a short time.

“The prime minister has always taken keen interest in the railways,” he said and thanked the premier for ensuring the return of Rana Shaukat who lost three sons and two daughters in the tragedy, but had been held up by Indian authorities.

He said the railways officials showed exemplary spirit following the incident and extended all possible help to the relatives of the victims. He was speaking at a ceremony arranged at the Governor’s House to distribute compensatory cheques among the victims by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Governor Khalid Maqbool earlier said various schemes were being pursued by the government for the promotion of technical and vocational training and providing better health facilities to the masses.

The technical training programmes would not only provide jobs to the youth, but also ensure that various industries had sufficient skilled manpower.

Later, Rana Shaukat received cheques for his three sons and two daughters, Muhammad Amin for his wife, Musarrat Bibi for her son, Zaitoon Bibi for her husband and Huseena Bibi for her husband and son.

The injured who received cheques included Rana Shaukat, Rukhsana Begum, one-year-old Aqsa, while Sikandar Lal and Ashok Kumar received cheques for their injured sons.

Cheques were also given to Akbar Ali, Samina Khalid, Firdous Boota, Talat, Aslam, Ajmal Rashid, Fehmida Jabeen and Perveen for dialysis facility at the Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore, besides an annual grant of Rs50 million for the federal government health facility.

The prime minister also announced that a cheque of Rs15,000 would be given to each youth completing training from the institute of the Vocational Training Authority for starting his own business, besides providing an annual grant of Rs150 million to the authority.

Later, the prime minister visited the Combined Military Hospital and the Lahore Institute of Technical Education. He addressed the students and announced a grant of Rs100 million for the uplift of the CMH Lahore Medical College.