Odisha train tragedy: Suvendu Adhikari targets Mamata Banerjee over ex-gratia distribution in Kolkata

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 7 (ANI): As West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced the distribution of compensation to the victims of the Balasore Triple Train Collision in Kolkata on Wednesday, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari slammed the TMC government saying the kin of the victims have not even recovered from the trauma and are being compelled to visit the city to collect the cheques.

While talking to reporters, Adhikari alleged that the kin of the victims are being compelled to visit Kolkata because the CM will deliver a speech there and then hand over cheques.
“The relatives of people who were injured in the Balasore train accident are being compelled to come to Netaji Indoor Stadium tomorrow because CM Mamata Banerjee will deliver a speech there and hand over the compensation cheques to the injured and relatives of the deceased. It is shameful that they are being told to come to Kolkata. They have not even recovered from the trauma,” West Bengal leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said.

The Odisha train tragedy claimed over 270 lives and left nearly 1000 injured.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the tragic Odisha train accident has been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the agency officials have revisited the site on Tuesday.

The accident occurred on June 2, when the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express collided with a stationary freight train, causing several coaches to derail onto the adjacent track. Subsequently, the Howrah Express, travelling from Yesvantpur to Howrah, collided with the affected carriages at high speed, resulting in further derailment.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier announced that the Bengal government will provide Rs 5 lakh each for the next of kin of those killed in the accident.

“An amount of Rs 1 lakh has been announced for the injured and Rs 50,000 each will be given to the victims of the state,” she said.

Adhikari further mocked Banerjee over her meeting with the victims of the Balasore Triple Train Collision in Odisha’s Cuttack, and termed it a ‘photoshoot’.

He claimed that there’s no medical facility in Bengal.

“TMC is not a party. It is a private limited company with Mamata Banerjee its chairman and Abhishek Banerjee the Managing Director. Saugata Roy is an employee of that company. I defeated its owner. That is just for a photoshoot. There is zero medical facility in Bengal,” BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said.