New Delhi: The Congress slammed the central government Sunday for the Odisha train tragedy, saying that the latter ignored early signs of an imminent accident. Pointing to a Railways’ internal report of 9 February, a report from the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG) and a Parliamentary Standing Committee rap, the party sought the resignation of Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Friday evening, coaches of the Shalimar-Chennai-Coromandel Express derailed and fell onto the adjacent track, hitting a stationary freight train near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha.
These derailed coaches then collided with the Sir M. Visvesvaraya-Howrah Superfast Express coming from the opposite side. At least 288 people died and at least 900 were injured in the accident.
Speaking at a press conference at the Congress headquarters here, spokespersons Pawan Khera and Shaktisinh Gohil addressed the issue over a day after the incident. They said the party kept silent for a day so as to not politicise the issue.
“The country expects that the way Lal Bahadur Shastri, Nitish Kumar and Madhavrao Scindia resigned from their ministerships over rail accidents in their respective tenures as ministers, Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw will too. They didn’t resign because the Opposition asked them to. They resigned on grounds of morality,” said Khera.
With the Railway Ministry clarifying that the indigenously developed anti-collision Kavach system was not deployed on the particular route, Khera mocked PM Narendra Modi by saying, “You have created a kavach around you which saves you from CAG reports, prime debates and any kind of public scrutiny. It doesn’t protect the country’s borders, it doesn’t protect those dying for want of oxygen, it doesn’t protect rail passengers, it only protects your image.”
He added, “A CAG report states clearly that there have been 1,127 derailments between 2017 and 2021. The Budget for track renewal has been decreasing every year. And the existing Budget is not being utilised.”
Khera also pointed to an internal report by a Railways official dated 9 February after a similar incident was averted. As reported by ThePrint, the principal chief operating manager of South Western Railway Zone had raised concerns over signal failure of an Express train. The official had warned of a re-occurrence of such an incident.
“On 9 February, this report was circulated in the Railways Ministry. What was done after that?” asked Khera.
Meanwhile, Gohil said that the Parliament Standing Committee on transport, tourism and culture, in December 2022, had slammed the government for the “disregard” shown by the Railway Board for the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS).
Gohil, who was a part of the committee, said it had mentioned that only 8-10% rail accidents were investigated by the CRS while the rest were investigated by the Railways itself. He said the committee had opposed a government notification of 2018, which, it said, had defanged the CRS.
“Furthermore, the committee found that the deputy commissioners in the independent CRS were railway officials who would be re-deputed to the organisation,” said Gohil. The committee, he said, pointed out such an official would not be able to point out mistakes fearlessly.
He said the committee also flagged to the government how the railway infrastructure needed an upgrade.
“Recommendations were made to the Parliament on 8 December 2022. If they were taken into cognisance, this tragedy may have been averted. In spite of the committee pointing it out, the Modi government did not rectify its mistakes,” he added.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
Also read: Just 2% of India’s rail track covered by Kavach, tech that ‘could have prevented Odisha tragedy’