One of the worst train accidents took place in the Balasore district in Odisha on Friday (June 2) evening. The tragic incident has left 261 people dead and around 900 injured. The accident involved three trains, Howrah-Chennai Coromandel Express, Yeswanthpur-Howrah Superfast Express, and a goods train.
Since last evening, almost every media house has been giving a minute-by-minute update about the tragic incident. Earlier in the day, ANI quoted railways spokesperson Amitabh Sharma as informing that the rescue operation in the horrific train accident in Odisha’s Balasore has been completed and the restoration work has been started. Despite this, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee surprisingly remained completely ignorant.
Mamata Banerjee, Saturday visited Odisha’s Balasore district where she met Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. In a video of her visit to the area, the West Bengal CM is heard insisting that the examination of three coaches of the derailed trains has still not been conducted and several more passengers may be trapped inside.
She said, “I have heard that the death toll in the train accident might go up to 500. Three coaches of the damaged train are yet to be examined and injured and deceased bodies still needed to be recovered.”
WATCH: Disagreement between West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw over death toll figures and train safety measures during a review at the site of tragic train accident at Bahanaga in Odisha's Balasore.#OdishaTrainAccident#OdishaTrainTragedy pic.twitter.com/ZSCHrjOjCa
— OTV (@otvnews) June 3, 2023
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw quickly intervened to inform her, “Didi, all the coaches have been thoroughly inspected, and the bodies have been recovered. The state government has confirmed a final death toll of 238.”
Despite his response, Mamata remained unpersuaded and insisted that three coaches have still not been rescued. She adamantly said that the death toll reported by the Union Minister was only as of yesterday (Friday, June 2) and not the total.
It may be noted that Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had reached the spot immediately after the tragedy struck at around 7 pm on Friday (June 2, 2023) and supervised the entire rescue operation that ended earlier in the day today. Mamata Banerjee, on the other hand, arrived at the train accident site only today. Despite this, she condescendingly ignored Ashwini Vaishnaw’s information and continued to declare that the rescue effort was far from complete.
It may be further noted that Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw not once but several times tried to apprise Mamata Banerjee that the death toll figure had been confirmed by the Odisha State Government, which we know is a non-NDA government, yet the West Bengal CM continued to completely disregard what the Union Minister what trying to tell her and continued to insist that several more passengers are trapped in the three coaches which she maintained, were not examined yet.
Not the time to play politics: Union Railway Minister responds to statements made by Mamata Banerjee
Reacting to Mamata Banerjee’s statement, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw asserted, “The CRPC lays out a proper procedure and the state government has time to time given accurate information and as of now as per the accurate information the death toll has reached 261.”
Further responding to Mamata Banerjee’s demand that the Union Railway Minister must resign over the Odisha accident, Ashwini Vaishnaw told the media, “Which is fine but this is not the time to do politics. This is time to focus on making sure that restoration happens at the earliest.”
#WATCH | Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reacts to an incident earlier today at #BalasoreTrainAccident site where WB CM Mamata Banerjee disagreed with him on the death toll, says, "…we want full transparency, this is not time to do politics, this is time to focus on making… https://t.co/4IJ5fil79N pic.twitter.com/nrXb82DuzV
— ANI (@ANI) June 3, 2023
Notably, speaking to ANI, the Executive Director, of the Information Publication Railway Board Amitabh Sharma said today, “The rescue operation has been completed, now we are starting the restoration work. 238 people have died and more than 600 are injured. Kawach was not available on this route”. He said that so far more than 100 people have claimed ex-gratia payments. He also said that several trains have been cancelled and diverted in the wake of the incident.
#WATCH | The rescue operation has been completed, now we are starting the restoration work. Kawach was not available on this route: Amitabh Sharma, Railways Spokesperson on #BalasoreTrainAccident pic.twitter.com/s8Q0Kb4goE
— ANI (@ANI) June 3, 2023
Several coaches of the 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, on the way to Howrah, derailed and fell on adjacent tracks. The 12841 Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express coming from the opposite direction on the parallel track rammed into the derailed coaches. Some 12 Coromandel Express coaches derailed and hit the stationary goods train on the third track.
