New Delhi: In a report tabled in the Lok Sabha Thursday, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has cited the Odisha train tragedy as an example of how accidents can occur as a result of damaged railway cables, and urged the Ministry of Railways to prioritise the safety and maintenance of the latter.
The triple train accident that took place in Balasore on 2 June and claimed 295 lives was a result of multiple lapses on the part of the Railways’ signal and telecommunication department — including past alterations by the department staff in the signalling circuit — according to the Commissioner of Railway Safety’s (CRS) probe report. ThePrint has seen a copy of the CRS report.
Chaired by Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the PAC has delved into a 2021 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India. This report found that the South Eastern Railway and West Central Railway had failed to implement the directions in a joint procedure order (JPO) issued by the railway ministry in 2013, and that this subsequently resulted in damage to railway cables in these zones.
The JPO consists of guidelines for digging work in places where signalling, telecommunication and electrical cables are present. The guidelines emphasise the need for coordination between various railway departments and contractors in order to prevent cables being cut — which can result in financial losses as well as reduced life and degraded service quality of the cables.
Moreover, according to the guidelines, hefty fines are to be imposed in cases where executing agencies carry out careless digging work without meeting specified pre-conditions. These include a requirement that the concerned railway department provide a cable route plan, that a minimum depth of 800 mm from the ground level be maintained, and that a railway official be present at the work site.
In its report — titled ‘Failure to Implement Ministry of Railways’ orders resulted in Damage to Railway Cables: South Eastern Railway and West Central Railway’ — the PAC looked at cases of cables being cut across all railway zones as well as those mentioned in the 2021 CAG report.
It highlighted that in many cases, none of the pre-conditions were being met and there was a “lack of coordination” between railway departments, resulting in cables being damaged and dislocated.
Apart from Chowdhury, the PAC comprises 14 Lok Sabha MPs and seven Rajya Sabha MPs.
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‘Allocate sufficient resources’
The PAC also pulled up the Ministry of Railways over its response to the committee, in which it said that it could not ensure the strict implementation of the JPO due to a shortage of staff. This committee asserted that this was not a valid reason.
“The Ministry of Railways should allocate sufficient resources and manpower to address growing infrastructure and staff shortage across the Railways. Adequate staffing will ensure timely implementation of guidelines, effective monitoring and enforcement of penalties,” the report said.
The fines for damaging railway cables range from Rs 1 lakh for a signalling cable to Rs 1.5 lakh for an optical fibre or quad cable, the PAC report said, highlighting that these are in place to act as a deterrent against contractors doing careless digging work.
The report noted that from 2017-18 to 2022-23 — according to data furnished by the railway ministry — there were 19,700 cases of cable cuts in all railway zones. “Penalties were not imposed in 7,940 cases, and there has been no effort by the Union ministry to ensure the implementation of the JPO in all zones,” it added.
The 2021 CAG report also said that from March 2017 to March 2020, there were 223 cases of cable cuts under the South Eastern Railway, amounting to penalties of Rs 2.49 crore, and 314 cases under the West Central Railway, amounting to Rs 4.62 crore from 2014-15 to 2019-20.
The committee cited another CAG report of 2022 to add that there has been further non-adherence to the JPO guidelines, resulting in significant losses. The panel recommended that the ministry carry out a review of incidents of cables being cut or damaged across all railway zones.
Meanwhile, the shortage of safety staff was also highlighted Wednesday, when railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed Parliament that there are 53,178 vacancies for safety staff positions, including 3,638 vacancies in the signal and telecommunication department and 17,129 in the electrical department.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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