Railway suffers Rs 68 lakh damage due to Salem train siege

The badly damaged train was shunted back to Salem Junction for examination and assessment of damages by the mechanical branch of Salem division. “The approximate cost of damages of the diesel engine was estimated at Rs 20 lakh. The cost of damage of the 16 passenger coaches was estimated at Rs 48 lakh,” a senior official said. 

The locomotive will be hauled back to the diesel loco shed of the South Western Railway (SWR) at Krishnarajapuram. The coaches will be sent back to the carriage and wagon depot of SWR at Yeswantpur. Services were resumed on the Salem-Vridhachalam section only after clearing the damaged train.  

Since thousands of protesters were protesting on the train from January 19, railway and police officials were clueless about who had damaged it. Condemning the attack launched by the police on women, students and journalists across the State on Monday, Tamil Nadu Makkal Urimai Katchi has urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to directly conduct an inquiry into the incident. 

“We have written to NHRC on the inhuman attack by the police,” party president Poomozhi said. In Coimbatore, Jothi (said to be a college student) whose hand was plastered said the injury was due to the police lathi charge by the police. 

A few dozen youth sat near the BAR association in the Coimbatore Combined Court premises seeking legal aid against the assault by the police on the protesters on Monday. They were chased by a section of the lawyers attached to the AIADMK when another group of proactive lawyers came to their support. They took her to judicial magistrate M. Christopher. He assured them that an inquiry will be conducted and necessary action will be taken.