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Odisha Train Accident: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday (June 5) warned the government against diverting attention and thwarting any attempt to fix accountability for the Balasore train accident, saying that all aspects of the accident should be investigated. The truth should be brought out. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also raised questions on the justification for the CBI probe into the accident and claimed that the agency was meant to investigate criminal cases and that it was technical, institutional and political in such a case. Cannot fix accountability for failure.
Mallikarjun Kharge said in the letter, ‘The horrific train accident in Indian history in Balasore, Odisha has shocked the entire nation… Rail is the most reliable and cheapest mode of transport for the people.’ He alleged that many such decisions of the government have been taken in the meanwhile, due to which the rail journey has become unsafe and the problems of the public have increased.
Kharge said these things in the letter
Former Railway Minister Kharge said, ‘About three lakh posts are vacant in the Railways. There are 8,278 vacant posts in the East Coast Railway in the area where the accident took place. The same is the case with higher posts, in whose recruitment the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Committee play a role. He says that in the 1990s there were more than 18 lakh railway employees, now there are 12 lakh and out of these 3.18 lakh employees are on contract. He said that due to vacancies, assured jobs for the youth belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes are also at risk.
According to Mallikarjun Kharge, ‘The Railway Board itself has recently admitted that loco pilots have had to work longer hours due to vacancies. Still why these posts were not filled? ”””” He said, ‘The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture of the Parliament in its 323rd Report (December 2022) on the recommendations of the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) to be shown by the Railway Board. Wali has criticized the Railway Board for indifference and neglect.
It was revealed in the report that CRS investigates only 8 to 10 percent of train accidents. He asked why efforts were not made to make CRS more strong and autonomous? Kharge says, “The latest audit report of the CAG mentions that between 2017-18 and 2020-21, about seven out of 10 train accidents were due to derailment of trains. But this is not taken care of.” given.’
Mallikarjun Kharge made this claim
Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that the CAG report also highlighted that 79 per cent funding was reduced in the National Rail Safety Fund. The Congress President asked why so far only four percent of Indian Railways’ routes have been protected with ‘Kavach’? He also asked, ‘What is the reason that in 2017-18 the Railway Budget was merged with the General Budget? Has this not affected the autonomy and decision making ability of Indian Railways? Was such work done to promote privatization bypassing the autonomy of Railways? ,
Referring to the Balasore train accident, Kharge said, ‘It is unfortunate that responsible people like you and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav do not want to accept that problems exist. Even though they have requested the CBI to investigate….’
Kharge says, “The CBI is not there to investigate rail accidents, it investigates crimes. The CBI or any other law enforcement agency cannot fix accountability for technical, institutional or political failures.
Kharge said, ‘At the time of the Kanpur train accident in 2016, the government asked the NIA to investigate it. After this, you yourself termed it a ‘conspiracy’ at an election rally in 2017, and assured the nation that the people involved in the incident would be given the harshest punishment. In 2018, the NIA closed the investigation and refused to file a charge sheet. The country still wants to know who is responsible for the 150 deaths that could have been avoided? ‘ He alleged, ‘It also arises a doubt that your government has no intention to chalk out the security by removing the loopholes within the system.
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