‘‘One eye can see. Two eyes can see better. I can do that now,’’ is how Justice U.C. Banerjee explained the purpose of his second visit in less than two months to Godhra railway station today.Accompanied by a team of fire and railway experts, Banerjee inspected the charred S-6 coach and made a dry run on the Vadodara Express train to ‘A’ cabin. Interestingly, Banerjee also visited the Gandhinagar railway yard and examined another burnt coach of Shanti Express which had caught fire on November 1.Asked why he wanted to check the Shanti Express coach, Justice Banerjee said, ‘‘I am here just to take a look at the burnt coach and see if any relevant parallels can be drawn between the burning of the two coaches.very soon, the experts will give me a report on the Gandhinagar coach as well. After that, we will see if something is common between the two incidents.’’Mukul Sinha of Jan Sangharsh Manch, an NGO assisting the Nanavati-Shah inquiry commission, said: ‘‘At first sight, there are a lot of similarities between the burning of the S-6 coach and the Gandhinagar coach. In both instances, the coaches were burnt down in 20-25 minutes. Secondly, vestibules of both are damaged. And third, the manner in which bathrooms of both have been burnt are identical. After seeing the Gandhinagar coach, I strongly believe that the S-6 incident was an accident.’’Banerjee, however, wasn’t so prompt to comment. ‘‘The perspective that I have gained, I cannot tell you now. But it will definitely help. The day I get the final perspective, I will submit my report,’’ he added.Inside S-6, Banerjee and his team looked into such details as where the fire originated, in which sections it caused maximum damage. The vestibule design, material used in the coach, etc were also discussed. The team also checked such specifics as which berth was seat No. 24 which, Banerjee explained, pertained to the deposition of a witness.The team then boarded the engine of Vadodara Express for a dry run. It was taken to ‘A’ cabin, where the train was first stopped on the morning of February 27, 2002, and then taken to the spot where the engine stopped a second time. The committee said the run was aimed at seeing what the driver of Sabarmati Express would have observed from his vantage point.
