CHENNAI: A consumer forum has directed Southern Railway to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to a passenger for the hardship caused due to power failure in a coach of Sapthagiri Express nearly two years ago.
The complainant V Paul Raj boarded the train from Tirupathi to Chennai on July 24, 2017, in an unreserved coach. Since the train left Tirupathi around 5.50 pm till
8.25 pm, the coach in which he travelled did not have power and passengers travelled in darkness and without fans. Passengers also had to cling to their belongings and children for fear of losing them in the dark.
Power was restored when the train reached Arakkonam and maintenance staff carried out the repair.
Paul Raj filed a complaint at the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Chennai (North) seeking compensation of Rs 3 lakh for the hardship caused by power failure.
Southern Railway accepted there was power disruption in the particular coach. However, it was due to external factors beyond the control of the railways. The railways submitted there was a power failure and the power back-up system too failed. This could be due to external factors caused by running over of cattle and entanglement of foreign objects like twigs. The fault was attended to at the nearest station and power was restored.
The forum presided by K Lakshmikantham observed that Southern Railway admitted that the fault was due to a belt drop and directed it to provide a compensation of Rs10,000 to the complainant.