Finally, the debris of the triple-train accident that killed at least 296 people will be cleared from the accident site.
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Aditya Kumar Chaudhary, chief public relations officer (CPRO), South Eastern Railway (SER), said the Railways auctioned the scrap after getting permission from the court.
“Scrap materials of the Railways are normally auctioned online through a dedicated website for this. We were prepared with all required documents and auctioned the scrap as soon as we received the court order,” he added.
A court of the 2nd Additional Sessions Judge, Bhubaneswar has allowed the Railways to auction all the 21 damaged compartments after hearing the advocates of the petitioner and the opposite party on Monday. A senior official of the SER was the petitioner.
Lawyer of the petitioner argued that the debris should be cleared as a charge-sheet in the train accident case has been submitted before the court. Even the CBI did not want that part anymore. The damaged coaches are creating problems in railway work, said the lawyer in his argument.
After hearing both the parties-SER and CBI, the court granted permission to the SER for auctioning of the mangled coaches. “E-auction has been completed. The agency, who won the bid, will give a timeline to clear the debris from the accident site,” said Chaudhary.
In the triple-train tragedy, 18 coaches including a brake van of Coromandel Express and three coaches including brake van of Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express were derailed on June 2 evening. The debris could not be cleared earlier as the CBI investigation into the triple train tragedy was underway.