The Congress party is set to pose questions to the Narendra Modi government at a press conference today over Friday night's train accident in Odisha's Balasore that claimed at least 290 lives and left hundreds more injured. Congress media department head Pawan Khera and Rajya Sabha member Shakti Singh Gohil will address a press conference at 12 noon to ask “searching questions” of the Modi government on railway management.
Hitting out at the BJP-led government for allegedly compromising the safety in the “PR campaign of the PM and the railway minister,” Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, said the party was quiet till now “out of respect.”
In a tweet, Jairam Ramesh said, “Yesterday we were quiet out of respect. Today at 12 noon my colleagues @shaktisinhgohil & @Pawankhera will ask searching questions of the Modi Govt on railway management, especially on safety that has been compromised in the PR campaign of the PM and the Railway Minister.”
“Recall that Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned in the wake of the Nov 1956 Ariyalur train disaster & Nitish Kumar did so following the ghastly Aug 1999 Gaisal train tragedy,” he added, indicating that the Congress will likely demand the resignation of rail minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Rail minister Vaishnaw says ‘root cause’ identified
Vaishnaw was at the accident spot on Sunday morning to oversee the ongoing restoration work at the railway track near Bahanaga Bazar station. The minister said the root cause of the accident has been identified and the preliminary findings suggest a change in electronic interlocking that forced the Coromandel Express off the main line towards the loop line where a freight train was already parked.
{{/usCountry}}Vaishnaw was at the accident spot on Sunday morning to oversee the ongoing restoration work at the railway track near Bahanaga Bazar station. The minister said the root cause of the accident has been identified and the preliminary findings suggest a change in electronic interlocking that forced the Coromandel Express off the main line towards the loop line where a freight train was already parked.
{{/usCountry}}“The commissioner of railway safety has investigated the matter and let the investigation report come but we have identified the cause of the incident and the people responsible for it... It happened due to a change in electronic interlocking,” Vaishnaw told ANI, without elaborating on it. “Right now our focus is on restoration.”