15 ITBP aspirants fall to death from speeding trains

SHAHJAHANUR/BAREILLY, February 2 (PTI): Fifteen youths were killed and several others injured on Tuesday when they fell from the roof of two speeding trains crammed with job aspirants returning from an ITBP recruitment camp in Bareilly in UP. The incidents triggered violent protests as angry youths torched a train. Fourteen youths, travelling atop the Himgiri Express, were killed when they were hit by an overbridge near Shahjahanpur while another ITBP job-seeker died when he fell from the Traveni Express in Hardoi district, District Magistrate of Shahjahanpur Ajay Chauhan said.
Agitated over the death of the youths, the job aspirants ran amok at Shahjahanpur station torching two bogies of the Jammu-Tawi Express and manhandling the driver of the Himgiri train. Chauhan said train driver Mohammad Asif was assaulted by the mob but maintained only one coach was torched. Uttar Pradesh Special DGP Brij Lal told PTI in Lucknow that the youths were killed when they fell from the Himgiri Express near Roja station, barely four-km from Shahjahanpur railway station. Over 12 ITBP aspirants were also injured, some of them critically, in the accident, he said. The death toll was expected to rise as some youths also fell into Khannaut river, reports said. “The identity of the seven of those killed in Shahjahanpur accident is yet to be ascertained,” Chauhan said.
A 25-year-old job-seeker returning home after taking part in the ITBP recruitment drive died after falling from the Triveni Express near Balamau railway station in Hardoi. He was identified as Satyabhan Singh, police said. “Two special trains from Roja and Shahjahanpur have been arranged for tranporting the youths to their respective destinations,” the DM said. Some trains were cancelled and diverted in view of the accidents. Over 1.5 lakh youths from 11 states, vying for ITBP jobs, had reached Bareilly to submit forms for recruitment in the force. Earlier in the day, thousands of ITBP aspirants went on a rampage in Bareilly torching a number of vehicles after they failed to submit their forms due to alleged mismanagement of the authorities. They set ablaze seven buses, five of them belonging to the state roadways, some two-wheelers and a petrol pump, officials said. The agitating youths also pelted stones at AIR and Doordarshan offices.
 
Home Ministry, UP, Railways in
blame game over recruitment mishap


New Delhi, February 2 (PTI):
Union Home Ministry, Uttar Pradesh government and Railways were locked in a blame game today over the chaos at a ITBP recruitment camp and ensuing mishap, as four more job aspirants travelling atop trains succumbed to injuries taking the death toll to 19. The Centre hit back at the Mayawati government for the violence and chaos that occurred during the recruitment camp saying “only a handful” of State policemen were present to maintain law and order.
The UP government claimed that ITBP and the Centre did not coordinate with the State on the recruitment camp. It also blamed alleged “mismanagement” of ITBP for the “chaos”. Contending that they had “no information about the recruitment drive by ITBP”, Northern Railway General Manager S K Budhalakoti said Railways came to know about it only when a large number of job aspirants started gathering at stations in Bareilly and other places.