The State government rose to the occasion to coordinate relief operations, provide medical aid to those injured and bring back the bodies of the 19 Keralites killed in the KSRTC bus-truck collision at Avinashi in Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu on Thursday.
Soon after the news of the accident reached here, Chief Minster Pinarayi Vijayan directed two of his ministerial colleagues to rush to the neighbouring State to coordinate relief operations. Chief Secretary Tom Jose was asked to coordinate the relief operations from the capital.
Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran and Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar rushed to accident spot. The Palakkad District Collector was asked to take necessary steps to provide medical aid to the injured and bring back the bodies.
The KSRTC launched helpline number 94950 99910 to provide details of the bus passengers. The Chief Minister’s Office was in regular touch with the Tirupur administration.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera spoke to his Tamil Nadu counterpart and Coimbatore City Police Commissioner to speed up the post mortem procedures. District Police Chief of Palakkad G. Siva Vikram was one of the first from the State to reach Avinashi .
Chairman and Managing Director of KSRTC M.P. Dinesh, who was asked to inquire into the accident, also reached the spot. The Motor Vehicles Department also rushed the enforcement team headed by the Enformement RTO in Palakkad.
Palakkad MP V.K. Sreekandan, and Alathur MP Ramya Haridas besides legislators from Kerala and revenue officials also reached to console the relatives and lend a helping hand in relief operations.
The despatch of 20 ambulances, including 10 of the Kanivu 108, to Avinashi by Health Minister K.K. Shyalaja came in handy to the authorities to shift the injured and bring back the bodies immediately after the post mortem.
Compensation
After visiting the hospitals, Mr. Saseendran said the KSRTC would provide a compensation of ₹10 lakh each to the deceased, of which ₹2 lakh would be released immediately. The families of the KSRTC employees would be given ₹30 lakh each under the insurance scheme. The government also declared that it would take care of the medical expenses of the injured commuters.
