The authorities of the Howrah division of Eastern Railway on Thursday ordered its engineering department to conduct a thorough health audit of all operational overhead metal water tanks in its jurisdiction and capped the filling up of these tanks to 60 per cent of their capacity for the time being.

The twin instructions came a day after three people were killed and 34 more got injured after a portion of a metal overhead tank collapsed on a platform at Burdwan railway station.

"We have directed the engineering department to conduct a detailed inspection and health audit of all such metal water tanks located in our jurisdiction. We have also issued another instruction in which we have specified that the tanks can be filled only up to 60 per cent of their capacity till the health audit reports reach us," said Sanjeev Kumar, the divisional railway manager of Howrah.

On Wednesday afternoon, a 133-year-old water tank, with a capacity of holding 2.5 lakh litres of water, partially collapsed on a passengers' shed at Burdwan station.

Many of the passengers, waiting for trains, were injured after gallons of water gushed down and swept them on the platforms to the railway tracks.

The railways' order to initiate health audits and restrict the filling up of the reservoirs drew sharp criticism from local people and political leaders as they wondered why it took a tragedy of this magnitude to order such measures.

"Railway authorities seem to have woken up only after the tragedy. Who prevented them from taking these measures till now?" asked Apurba Chatterjee, a CPM district secretariat member in East Burdwan.

"Had they done regular health audits, the tragedy could have been avoided," he added, before recalling the last accident on the same station.

In January 2020, a portion of the main station building, which was built in 1855, collapsed, resulting in the death of a commuter. The then authorities were accused of conducting heavy renovation works without a health audit of the building. "Their apathy towards passenger safety is so apparent," said Chatterjee, before adding that his party is planning a series of programmes to protest the Centre's failure in efficiently running the railways.

The impact of the tragedy on common people, who use the railway network, could be felt surrounding the Burdwan station on Thursday as residents and shopkeepers kept discussing the accident through the day. Some people this correspondent spoke to expressed their worries about the structural stability of another metal water tank near platform 8 of Burdwan station.

A team of railway engineers on Thursday afternoon went to inspect the health of the tank following the order from the office of the DRM.

"After Wednesday's incident, I could not sleep in panic thinking whether this water tank would fall on us at night," said Lakshmi Das, who owns a shop near the water tank.

The accident also prised open larger questions about the overall state of affairs in the biggest public sector utility in the country that serves over 24 million people every day.

The Opposition accused the Narendra Modi government of shifting its focus on inaugurating new trains and expanding urban facilities at stations but compromising on passengers' safety and maintenance of old structures.

"This Union government has pushed the glorious Indian Railways towards disasters.... There is a complete deterioration of the services, be it on-time running of trains or passenger amenities. This government even stopped tabling the railway budget at the parliament," said Kunal Ghosh, a Trinamul state general secretary.

In February 2023, Modi announced a new scheme namely Amrit Bharat stations under which 1275 railway stations across the country will be redeveloped with modern facilities and amenities. Burdwan railway station is also among 37 railway stations of Eastern Railways that the railway authorities have decided to revamp.

The engineering department of the railways started dismantling the structure of the collapsed water tank at Burdwan railway station on Thursday morning. The entire area surrounding the tank was fenced and security personnel were posted to avoid any mishap.

"It will take a few days to complete dismantling of the century-old water tank," a senior railway official said.

A senior railway official said the old station buildings would be replaced with modern buildings under the Amrit Bharat station scheme, and that they had a plan for new construction at Burdwan station also.

Local historians and researchers raised their concerns on converting the Burdwan station building into a modern one.

"If they demolish the 168-year-old station building, Burdwan will lose its historic glory. The railways should renovate and preserve those historic buildings. Burdwan is a station thrown open in 1855, a year after Howrah station was built. This is unfortunate," said Sarbajit Jash, a historian in Burdwan.

CPM veteran Sujan Chakraborty decried the government's decision to dismantle the historic station structure. "The main goal of this BJP government is to destroy history, be it the Parliament or Burdwan station," he said.

BJP leaders said that the Opposition should not play politics over an accident. "Burdwan will be certainly a model railway station. Railways did not escape from their responsibilities after the accident," BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said.

On Thursday evening, governor C.V Ananda Bose visited the accident site and met patients at Burdwan Medical College and Hospital.