24 January,2009 08:00 AM IST | | Sanjeev Devasia
Died on duty: Assistant Chief Ticket Inspector S K Sharma was felled by terrorists' bullets
CR refuses to give kin of TC the Rs 10 lakh meant for those who died at CST, as he had already received separate compensation as a rail employee; finally Lalu sorts it out
Days after it emerged that the Railways' Rs 10-lakh compensation for families of those who died at CST had reached five foreigners who hadn't died there, here's worse news. Central Railway authorities decided to withhold the compensation from the family of Assistant Chief Ticket Inspector S K Sharma, who died at CST, as he had already been compensated under the Workmen's Compensation Act as a rail employee.
It finally took the intervention of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to wake up the administration. He is understood to have reprimanded rail officials and asked them to pay up immediately.
Said Sharma's wife Ragini, "My husband was the first to inform the control room and the announcer on the public address system about the attack, thereby saving so many lives."
"I was given a cheque of Rs 6.8 lakh and told that the remaining Rs 3.2 lakh would be deposited at the Labour Commissioner's Office. We were told that we would not get Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia, as we were being given compensation under the workmen's compensation," she added.
She said that a TV channel called them to New Delhi and helped them meet Lalu. "The railway minister was very kind and immediately acted on our complaint. Thereafter, zonal and divisional officials called us and we were given the Rs 10 lakh," said Ragini.
Central Railway CPRO Srinivas Mudgerikar said, "It is not that the administration wanted to deny them the ex-gratia amount.
"A clarification was sought about the rules from the Railway Ministry, as the Ministry declared the ex-gratia. Besides, we also handed over the compensation under the Workmen's Compen-sation Act. Now that the clarification has come, we have given them the ex-gratia too."
