Rail mishaps may go against BJP in UP

After the hardship of government’s demonetisation move, two major train accidents in the state of Uttar Pradesh, seem to have been going against the BJP in upcoming Assembly polls.

Many believe that since the party came to power, the Railway ministry has increased the number of projects and hiked the fund-allocation but paid little attention to the safety measures.

Ministry spokespersons have claimed ‘heavy fog density’ as the prime reason behind train accidents. Even in the last rail budget too, 4,950 crore was allocated for the poll-bound states which is more than 200% of the previous government.

But, experts feel using of substandard equipments and lack of monitoring system are the main causes of the tragedy. After two accidents near Kanpur in both November and December — the derailment of Ajmer-Sealdah Express on Wednesday which caused injuries to more than 50 passengers and the derailment of Indore-Patna Express train on November 19 in which 150 passengers were killed, the Railways minister Suresh Prabhu also reacted on Thursday by directing railways board that safety cannot be compromised and plainly warned general managers to be ready for consequences for any lapses.

However, since the NDA government came into the power, MoS Railways Manoj Sinha dismissed the committe. Sinha thought that the committee’s recommendation on an independent safety regulatory was “under examination.”

Meanwhile, Sinha also hails from the state and was personally monitoring the railways projects in UP. The Railways minister Suresh Prabhu was also seen to react on Thursday by directing railways board that safety cannot be compromised and plainly warned general managers to be ready for consequences for any lapses.