Train collision another blot on Mamata's record
New Delhi: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has come under sharp fire with more than 162 accidents taking place in the year since she took over. The Opposition on Monday said her preoccupation with state politics was hurting the running of the nation's lifeline.
Mamata is the absentee Union Minister with a horrifying attendance records at Cabinet meetings. But it is perhaps her track record as the Railway Minister that Mamata would want to forget as there have been 162 train accidents in the last one year of which six were serious collisions out of which two have taken place in the last four months alone.
"Mamata has to decide her priorities whether it is West Bengal or railways. This attitude cannot go on," said former railway minister Ram Vilas Paswan. "There were a number of safety measures to be undertaken that Parliament was informed of but nothing happened. The responsibility for the Ministry lies with the individual minister and Prime Minister is the head of the Cabinet," said Communist Party of India-Marxist Polit Buro member Sitaram Yechury.
Mamata is also called the Railway Minister of Bengal by the Opposition. She on her part says she has been trying. In the vision 2020 Document Mamata had emphasised on a zero tolerance policy on accidents.
But the Anti Collision Device, Railways most touted security tool, has been implemented in just 1,736 kilometers of Northern Frontier Railway. Mamata has been saying 1,700 kilometers more will be covered, but financial issues have been holding that up.
"It is sheer bureaucratic hurdle in the Ministry of Railway. At this stage they have to take a decision at this point in time," said former member, traffic, VN Mathur.
The trial for the train protection warning system was completed in 2009 after three years of tests and specifications were frozen in June 2010. However, the plan is still on paper,
The question also being asked: Is the increase in accidents also because train drivers are overworked. The railways have a shortage of over 1 lakh safety staff, including a 20 per cent shortage of drivers.
Mamata has often been criticised for running the Railways Ministry out of Kolkata and reaching an accident site only when it is West Bengal. She might have made her ambition to be the next chief minister of West Bengal quite clear but it would help if the minister could take care of the job in hand and save some lives.
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