New Delhi, Jun 5: Days after nearly 290 people were killed and over 1,000 injured after two passenger trains derailed near Odisha’s Balasore, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising several questions on the tragedy and asked for accountability from the BJP government
In his four-page letter, Kharge said, “…consistently flawed decision making has made travelling by rail unsafe and has in turn compounded the problems of our people”.
Hitting out at Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for not wanting to admit the problems, Kharge asked why the latter called for a CBI probe into the accident. “The CBI is meant to investigate crimes, not railway accidents. The CBI, or any other law enforcement agency, cannot fix accountability for technical, institutional and political failures. In addition, they lack the technical expertise in railway safety, signalling, and maintenance practices,” he said.
Terming the accident in Balasore as “one of the worst in Indian history,” Kharge said that instead of making the railways more effective, advanced, and efficient, “it is instead being meted out with step-motherly treatment”.
With the latest audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) stating that nearly three in four “consequential train accidents” across the country between 2017-18 and 2020-21 were caused by derailments, Kharge asked, “…why were these grave red flags ignored?”
The Congress president also asked why the Indian Railways has over 3 lakh posts vacant. “It’s the same story of apathy and negligence even in the case of senior positions, where both the PMO and the Cabinet Committee play a crucial role in appointment…why have such high number of vacancies not been filled over the last 9 years?
Kharge called the Odisha accident an “eye-opener” for all and said that the “empty safety claims” of the Railway Minister have now been “exposed”. He asked the government to take steps to bring to light the issue in the Railways.
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