‘Derailment minister’: Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi takes jibe at Ashwini Vaishnaw

BJP ministers have been blaming past history instead of taking responsibility for untoward incidents happening in the country, Gaurav Gogoi alleged.

Published on: Aug 1, 2024, 15:12:28 IST

By HT News Desk

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Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday took a jibe at union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for not taking moral responsibility for train accidents and called him the ‘derailment minister.’

Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi calls railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw 'derailment minister'. (ANI Photo/SansadTV) (SansadTV)

The Bharatiya Janata Party ministers have been blaming history instead of taking responsibility for untoward incidents happening in the country, Gogoi alleged.

“In the last two months, at least four goods trains have derailed and four people died in July. Ten people were killed in June due to the collision of the Kanchanjunga Express, in addition to thousands of injured. Despite all this, the railway minister has not taken any responsibility,” said Gaurav Gogoi.

At least ten passengers died, and 41 others were injured after three rear coaches of the stationary Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express derailed on June 17 after a goods train collided with it from the rear in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district.

Gogoi also alleged that the railway minister was busy accusing Opposition members and threatening them, but did not address railway safety.

“In 2023 in Odisha, at least 300 people were killed. Who is going to take responsibility for that? In the last year and a half, train accidents have been rising and the minister is busy with manufacturing. He is not a railway minister, he is a derailment minister,” PTI quoted Gogoi as saying.

On June 2, 2023, the Coromandel Express collided with a stationary iron ore-laden goods train at Bahanaga Bazar station; some of its derailed coaches then crashed into the Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express, resulting in India’s worst railway disaster in three decades that killed 293 passengers and left 1,100 injured.

The minister’s response in the House was unsatisfactory and avoided accountability, leading the INDIA bloc parties to stage a walkout."

Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on July 24 that the Railway Ministry has allocated ₹1,112.57 crore to install the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, Kavach, for the financial year 2024-25.

Kavach is an indigenously developed ATP system that is highly technology-intensive and requires the highest level of safety certification.

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