Earlier railway ministers used to resign if train accidents occurred: NCP’s Ajit Pawar on Odisha tragedy

Nagpur/Mumbai, Jun 3 (PTI) Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Saturday said the country has never seen a bigger train accident than the Odisha tragedy in which at least 261 people were killed, and said that railway ministers used to resign after such accidents in the past but nobody was talking about it now.

The Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was talking to reporters at the Nagpur airport.

At least 261 people were killed and 650 injured in the train crash in Odisha’s Balasore district involving the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train on Friday.

“The Odisha train accident is very unfortunate. The country has never seen such a big train accident before. The railway department and the government should immediately investigate this incident and take action against those responsible,” Pawar said.

When fast trains and Vande Bharat trains are being launched in the country to provide better transportation facilities, it is important to keep the safety of passengers in mind. The Centre and the railway ministry should give utmost priority to the safety of passengers, he said.

“Earlier, railway ministers used to resign whenever such accidents occurred. This is history. But nobody is ready to speak about it now,” the former Maharashtra deputy chief minister said.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto said in a statement, “Expecting Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to resign on moral grounds for the Odisha train accident will not yield any result, because if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) believed in morality then it would have asked (outgoing WFI chief and party MP) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh to resign a long time ago.” We only hope the government makes sure that the family of those deceased get the compensation as promised, the injured get proper treatment and are taken good care of till they recover completely, he said.

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is facing allegations of sexually harassing women wrestlers. Two FIRs have been registered against him by the Delhi police on the basis of complaints from six women wrestlers and the father of a minor. The opposition parties are accusing the Centre of “inaction” against Singh.