India’s ‘derailment minister’ slammed for fatal train accidents, years of track neglect
- The criticisms came after 10 train accidents happened in the past month and the deadly crash in June last year, which killed about 300
Eight train derailments occurred last month on different heavily used routes in northern India, with two more incidents reported earlier in August.
At least three people were killed and 30 others injured in these accidents, which also caused significant damage to railway infrastructure and embarrassment to the government.
“He [Ashwini Vaishnaw] is the ‘derailment minister’. How many trains have derailed in the last two years? In the last two months, four goods [freight trains] have derailed. He should have resigned, taking moral responsibility for about 300 deaths in the Balasore incident,” opposition leader Gaurav Gogoi told parliament on Friday.
Gogoi was referring to a tragedy in June last year when three trains collided in the Balasore district of the eastern state of Odisha, killing nearly 300 people and injuring 1,200 others, making it one of the deadliest train disasters in the country’s history.
“With so many accidents, people will stop travelling by train if this continues,” Sanatan Pandey, another opposition parliamentarian, said.
