In 15 months of Mamata tenure, 270 railway deaths

[pmaitra]

In 15 months of Mamata tenure, 270 railway deaths
Times of India, Mahendra Kumar Singh, TNN, Sep 21, 2010, 02.25am IST

NEW DELHI: At a time when railways is trying for an image makeover, Monday's train accident near Guna in Madhya Pradesh, which killed 23 and injured 30 passengers, is set to dent the track record of rail minister Mamata Banerjee, who has often been accused of being an "absentee minister".

According to preliminary findings, the driver of the goods trains ignored the signal and rammed into a stationary Indore-Gwalior Intercity Express at Badarwas station. The spurt in accidents will certainly turn the political heat on Mamata, who faces assembly polls in her home state, West Bengal, next year.

In over 15 months since Banerjee took over as minister, around 270 travellers have been killed in more than a dozen major train accidents, which have mostly been caused due to failure of railway employees that led to head-on or rear-on collisions. Trinamool Congress chief has been accused of being absent from Delhi, and focusing more on the Bengal elections.

The spate of accidents has also put a question mark on her promise to improve railways' safety record.

Typically, Mamata's approach to the accidents has been to hurriedly announce compensation for victims and their next of kin, institute inquiries and direct senior officials from Delhi to rush to the sites, giving enough ammunition to the Opposition to highlight her failure to prevent such incidents.

Besides, questions are being raised about various pending vital decisions and appointments to heighten rail safety. While railways is trying hard to fill around 89,000 safety-related vacancies, the arrest of the chairman of railway recruitment board ( RRB) Mumbai has not only embarrassed the state transporter but also derailed the entire process.

Railways is yet to come up with a timeline for installation of the anti-collision device, even though the decision was taken after the Saithia tragedy. CAG had also pointed out to railways about meeting its own target that was set under the corporate safety plan.

Read more: In 15 months of Mamata tenure, 270 railway deaths - The Times of India
In 15 months of Mamata tenure, 270 railway deaths - The Times of India

 

[Ray]

While I don't think much of the CPM, but I shudder to think what will happen to Bengal once she arrives!

 

[pmaitra]

While I don't think much of the CPM, but I shudder to think what will happen to Bengal once she arrives!

Well said Sir.

Compulsions of Coalition-Politics has bound and gagged our otherwise beloved and well respected Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh to such an extent that even seditious activities on part of Mamata Bannerjee, such as supporting Maoists, Maoist backed Organisations and even Kamtapuri separatists, go unchecked.

As someone had commented, "West Bengal, under CPM was on the frying pan; but now, under Mamata, it will go from the frying pan into the fire itself!"

 

[thakur_ritesh]

wonder why does maomata want to hook on to that chair of railways ministry as the minister there when she is rarely to be found in the ministry office neither in delhi nor does she have the time for what she's been tasked to do. the only time i see her active as a minister is when she sits on a dharna post some train accident. why can't she completely leave it for WB and have someone else and more efficient do the job, i am sure not all of TMC is made of incompetent nincompoops like her who have no time for what they have been tasked to deliver on. she makes me really worry about railways vision 2020.

a certain lalu was any day much better, imagine she is being compared to lalu and still falls short, and this reminds me of the disaster tenure lalu had in bihar as the cm, wonder what all she would do even if i were to keep lalu as her benchmark once she takes over the top job in WB, will she even match up to lalu on that front?

 

[anoop_mig25]

why blame mamata when default was that of lower level employ. but yes she should not have made railway minister as she never had any interset in developing it.look at china how they are developing trains infrastructure. i recently came to know that they five different types of train depending upon their speed.i would post more about it later.but look what we have 3 types of gauges system,And crumbling infrastructure. every IR minister on every budget announces some trains for its home state and other but never announces when he/she is going to do about IR infrastructure. or he is going to modernize IR

 

[Oracle]

The main problem with politicians like Mamata is they do not have an iota of shame. I wonder if she can see eye to eye with herself in the mirror.

 

[pmaitra]

why blame mamata when default was that of lower level employ. but yes she should not have made railway minister as she never had any interset in developing it.look at china how they are developing trains infrastructure. i recently came to know that they five different types of train depending upon their speed.i would post more about it later.

I am not saying that you are wrong. However, to squarely place the blame on the lower level employees looks like a case of plausible deniability. If Mamata Banerjee was doing her level best, and if accidents were recurring, people would not have been so critical of her. This is my humble view.

Plausible deniability - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

but look what we have 3 types of gauges system,And crumbling infrastructure. every IR minister on every budget announces some trains for its home state and other but never announces when he/she is going to do about IR infrastructure. or he is going to modernize IR

Actually India has 5 different gauges:

• Indian Broad Gauge: 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
• Metre Gauge: 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
• Standard Gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) (e.g. Calcutta Trams/some recent Metro Projects; but may not be under Ministry of Railways)
• Narrow Gauge (1): 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) (e.g. Kalka-Shimla/Pathankot/Dabhoi)
• Narrow Gauge (2): 610 mm (2 ft) (e.g. Darjeeling/Matheran)

Maybe even more?

Overall, I largely agree with the second part of your comment.