Rlys cracks whip: 4 suspended, 3 sent on leave
TRAGEDY AND AFTER Government admits that negligence may have caused the derailment near Muzaffarnagar in UP
The government on Sunday suspended four Northern Railway officials and sent its General Manager on leave after authorities admitted to negligence that may have led to the derailment of the Kalinga Utkal Express train in Uttar Pradesh which claimed 22 lives.
In an action that indicated that the government was determined to check recurring rail disasters, the Divisional Rail Manager, Delhi, and Railway Board Member (Engineering) were also asked to proceed on leave. The action, which came nearly 24 hours after the tragedy, was taken based on prima facie evidence, a Railway Ministry statement said.
Northern Railway spokesperson Neeraj Sharma said that the suspended officials included Khatauli junior engineer Pradeep Kumar, Muzaffarnagar senior section engineer Inder Jeet Singh, assistant engineer (Meerut-Delhi Division) Rohit Kumar and senior divisional engineer (Delhi) R.K. Verma. Those asked to go on leave were Northern Railway General Manager R.R. Kulshrestha, Divisional Rail Manager R.N. Singh and Railway Board Member A.K. Mittal. Besides, the chief track engineer of Northern Railway Alok Ansal was transferred.
Earlier, as the authorities began probing the exact cause of the train disaster, a criminal complaint was lodged against unknown people for causing deaths by negligence. Mohd Jamshed from the Railway Board told the media in New Delhi that lapses in maintenance work being carried out on the track could have caused the accident involving the speeding train at Khatauli.
He said the railways were probing the disaster from all angles. The official said authorities would look into possible sabotage and whether “all precautions were taken” while the repair work was on.
At Khatauli, angry locals accused the railways of gross negligence. According to them, workers repairing the tracks left mid-way because of heavy rains. To worsen the situation, the local railway station manager claimed he had no idea of the work being carried out on the tracks.
The Kalinga Utkal Express was on its way from Puri to Haridwar when 14 coaches derailed at Khatauli. The accident was so severe that some of the coaches mounted on others.