From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, a former railway minister, on Monday flayed the government in a letter to the Prime Minister, saying “the most crucial step is to prioritise installation of mandatory safety standards and equipment across the railway routes to ensure safety of passengers and no recurrence of an accident like one at Balasore.
He flayed the government asking the CBI to probe the Balasore mishap. The statemeents so far and the roping in of yet another agency without the reuired expertise remind us of 2016. It shows that “your government has no intent to address the systemic safety malaise, but is instead finding diveeresionary tactics to deal with any attempt to fix the accountability, Khrge said.
Noting that all the empty safety claims of the Railway Minister have now been exposed as there is serious concern among the common passengers about this deterioration in safety, he said: “It is incumbent upn the government to ascertain and bring to light the real reasons that cause this grave accident in Odisha.
He said the nation still remembers the 2016 derailment in Kanpur, resulting in loss of 150 lives. Then the Railway Minister asked the NIA to investigate. Subsequently, the PM claimed in an election rally in 2017 that there was a “conspiracy,” but the NIA rather closed the investigation and refused to file a chargesheet.
Kharge asked a pointed question why was the previous gpvernment’s plan to roll out the anti-train collision system, originally named as Raksha Kavach put on the back burner? This system was developed by the Konkan Railway and tested successfullyn 2011. “Your government simply renamed the scheme ‘Kavach” and in March 2022, the railway minisster himelf projected the rechristened scheme as a new novel invention. But the question still remains, why have only a measly 4% of routes of the Indian Railways have been protecte by it till now?”
He said the railway minister has alsready found the root cause, but yet he has asked the CBI to investigate. 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, particularly when it lacks the technical expertise in railway safety, signalling and maintenance practices, he asserted.
