Rail mishap: Govt sticks to sabotage theory

Ministry rules out negligence by officials

Railway ministry is sticking to the theory that sabotage might be the cause of the New Delhi-Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express derailment near Chapra in Bihar on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha who visited the accident site has referred to “evidences” which suggest possibility of sabotage. He also ruled out the possibility of negligence or failure on the part of Railways in maintaining the tracks.

“At least 20 clips of tracks were missing at the spot of the accident. Also, explosives were found during search in the city,” Sinha said during an interaction with mediapersons.

He also ruled out ill-maintenance of tracks as the possible reason of the accident. “We have a robust mechanism of checking the status of tracks which has by now become completely mechanised. There is also a quarterly monitoring system. That possibility is not there,” he asserted.

However, the minister added that the real picture will emerged only after a thorough probe.

He also denied any blame game on the part of Railways when his attention was drawn to the Bihar government’s ruling out of a Maoist attack. He said the advisory of possible sabotage was not for this area. This was for Muzaffarpur and Hajipur. The Railways took precautions on that route.

The same stance is being taken by all other functionaries of the rail ministry. One of the officials cited an intelligence input which says that tracks were cut and that might have caused the derailment.

Though sabotage is the stated position, the rail ministry is enthusiastically deliberating upon modernising its safety regime that includes modernisation of tracks, signalling and rolling stock.

Sinha and Railway Board members deliberate on Thursday to workout on these issues. Various committees including those headed by Anil Kakodkar and Sam Patroda have recommended modernisation of tracks.