"More than 100 people have lost their lives. I request everyone to stand up and observe one minute silence to the people who lost their lives in the railway accident today," Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu said before the formal inaugural function began.
Earlier, Naidu along with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Union AYUSH Minister Sripad Naik, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar walked the red carpet at Dr Shama Prasad Mukhejee stadium.
In the worst rail accident in recent years, over 100 passengers were killed and more than 200 injured, nearly half of them grievously, when 14 coaches of the Indore-Patna Express derailed near Pukhrayan in Kanpur rural district early today due to suspected rail fracture.