‘No accountability’: Kapil Sibal hits out at Centre over Odisha train tragedy

At least 294 passengers died and over 1,000 were injured in India's worst rail accident in over two decades on Friday night.

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Sunday hit out at the Central government over the horrific three-way train accident in Odisha, saying that “no accountability" is being taken and that the government is “serving the extraordinary and letting down the ordinary”. He also said that one minister (Ashwini Vaishnaw) cannot deal with large ministries such as Railways as well as Communications, Electronics and Information Technology” - both being handled by Vaishnaw.

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal (PTI)

“Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for IT and Electronics, Minister for Railways. No Railway Budget. No Accountability. One minister cannot deal with such large ministries. Bullet Trains. Vande Bharat. Serve the extraordinary, let down the ordinary! Recipe for disaster!” Kapil Sibal wrote on Twitter.

In another tweet, Sibal listed the data on total train derailments from 2017 to 2020 and said that the reasons were either - maintenance of track, deviation of track parameters, and bad driving.

“Tragedies –Total derailments; 257(2017-18); 526 (2018-19) ; 399 (2019-20)...Reasons (CAG): 1)Maintenance of track (167); 2)Deviation of track parameters(149); 3)Bad driving(144). For the Rs.1 lakh cr. allocated 2017-22) for safety, Railways failed to deposit even Rs. 5000 cr each year!” he claimed.

Odisha train accident

At least 294 passengers died and over 1,000 were injured in India's worst rail accident in over two decades on Friday night. The three-way accident involved Bengaluru-Howrah superfast express, the Coromandel Express, and goods trains on three separate tracks at Bahanagar in Odisha’s Balasore district.

What caused the massive collision?

According to initial reports, a “mistaken” signal likely led to the Coromandel Express entering a side track on which the goods train was parked. Reportedly, the line on which the two trains collided was “partially corroded”.

“After careful observation, (we) came to the conclusion that the signal was given and taken off for the main line for 12841 (Coromandel Express), but this train entered the loop line and dashed with the goods train which was on the loop line and derailed,” said the report signed by four senior railway officials said.

Meanwhile, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday said that the root cause of the triple-train collision has been identified, and the report will be “submitted soon”. He also clarified that the accident did not have anything to do with ‘Kavach’ and that it happened due to a change in electronic interlocking.