People were told repeatedly to occupy vacant seats in the ground: Navjot Kaur

Punjab Congress leader Navjot Kaur Sidhu, who was the chief guest at the Dusshera celebrations organised at the Dhobi Ghat ground in Amritsar, where the tragic train mishap took place killing 59 people, on Saturday said that announcements were made several times requesting people to occupy vacant seats inside the ground.

Speaking to ANI, Navjot said, "There were vacant seats at Dhobi Ghat ground. Ravan was tied securely and there were no chances of it falling down and creating chaos. There was no stampede. Announcements were made four-five times asking people to come inside the ground."

In another development, a letter has surfaced which suggested that the Dussehra committee had written a letter to the police, seeking security arrangements for the celebrations at Dhobi Ghat ground. In reply, Assistant Sub-Inspector Daljeet Singh said that the police have no objections in this regard.

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister of Bihar and ex-Railway Minister Lalu Prasad also expressed grief over the death of the people in the accident. His daughter Chanda Yadav said her father, who is admitted in RIMS at Ranchi, asked people of Bihar to hold patience.

Earlier on Saturday, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh ordered a magisterial inquiry under Divisional Commissioner of Jalandhar to ascertain the cause of the train accident.

The accident took place on Friday evening in Choura Bazar near Joda Phatak area after a train, ran over the crowd who were watching Dussehra celebrations near the train track. Besides those killed, 57 were injured in the incident.