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Mamata Banerjee visits Odisha accident site, says crash could have been averted
She said when she was the railway minister, she introduced an anti-collision device and train accidents dropped
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said the train accident in Odisha could have been averted had there been an anti-collision device on the Coromandel Express, one of the trains involved in the crash, as she visited the accident scene.
She said when she was the railway minister, she introduced an anti-collision device and train accidents dropped. “The device ensured that if two trains came on the same track, an alert would be sent and the trains would stop. Now, when you [railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw] are here, I want to point out that there was no anti-collision device on this train as far as I came to know,” Banerjee said in the presence of Vaishnaw at the accident site.
She called for special treatment for the railways. “I feel, a coordination gap has surfaced, as the railway did not get special treatment. The railway ministry does not even have a separate budget. I have been the railway minister and the railway is like my child. I am also a member of the railway family,” she said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government discontinued the decades-old separate railway budget in 2017.
Saket Gokhale, a spokesman for Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, also attacked the BJP-led government over the anti-collision device. “Shocking facts about Modi Govt criminally ignoring railway anti-collision technology: In 2011-12, Indian Railways under then Railways Minister @MamataOfficial developed the Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) system,” he tweeted.
He added after Modi came to power, the system was renamed Kavach to claim credit. “There was ZERO PROGRESS on deploying this crucial rail safety technology until 2019 when 3 companies were approved for manufacturing & installing KAVACH on railways,” tweeted Gokhale.
“Indian Railways has a total route length of 68,043 km. From this entire route, KAVACH/anti-collision system has been installed on ONLY 1,445 km. That’s ONLY 2% of total railway routes. As of date, about 98% of Indian Railways do NOT have any anti-collision devices/systems.”
Banerjee separately announced ₹5 lakh compensation for the families of those killed in the crash, ₹1 lakh for those seriously injured, and ₹50000 for victims with minor injuries. “We have opened helplines. We have sent 110 ambulances and a team of 40 doctors. There is also a team of 50 officers from West Bengal working on the ground.”
The BJP hit back saying that Banerjee and her party should stop politics when so many people have died. “We do not want to comment. Why did Mamata Banerjee go there? To do politics? Several people have lost their lives in a disaster. We should now concentrate on relief and rescue operations instead of engaging in petty politics over the anti-collision device. We will have time for this later on,” said BJP leader Rahul Sinha.
