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Centre to order judicial inquiry into Punjab rail mishap

A judicial inquiry under the Commission of Inquiries Act will be conducted to find out the real causes of the train mishap involving the Golden Temple Mail and the Jammu Tawi-Sealdah Express near Khanna in Punjab.

Making a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha on the mishap in which 209 persons died and 197 were injured, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar said that while the cause of the accident will be established after the chief commissioner of railway safety submits his inquiry report, the derailment was caused, prima facie, by failure of material.

The CCRS comes under the ministry of civil aviation.

Usually, the commissioner of railway safety conducts inquiries into railway mishaps. But keeping in mind the gravity of this accident, the CCRS has been entrusted with the inquiry, Kumar added.

He thanked the Punjab government, the army, the air force, and voluntary agencies for their contributions to the relief and rescue operations.

UNI

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