Bangalore:
The Railways on Wednesday disbursed ex-gratia amount to those injured in the collision of Hampi Express with a stationary goods train at Penukonda in Andhra Pradesh that claimed 25 lives.
Two teams of officials visited the Railway hospital and Sanjay Gandhi Trauma and Orthopaedic Centre in Bangalore, and the Satya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam Hospital at Puttaparthy and handed over ex-gratia amount of Rs one lakh to 14 grievously wounded and Rs 50,000 to four persons who suffered minor injuries.
The South Western Railway in a release here said that 23 of the 25 deceased in the yesterday's mishap have been identified.
In 17 cases where the immediate kith and kin of the fatal victims had been identified, a team of railway officials has been deputed to visit them on Thursday and hand over the ex-gratia amount of Rs five lakh. For the remaining cases efforts are being made to identify the beneficiaries.
Railway Minister Mukul Roy, who visited the accident spot, had announced a compensation of Rs five lakh for the families of those died in the mishap, Rs one lakh to seriously injured and Rs 50,000 to those with minor injuries.
Those passengers who had left after treatment for minor injuries and discharged were being traced out since they are from the villages, it said.