Indus Valley Times

West Bengal ,june 3 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday visited the accident site in Odisha’s Balasore, where a three-train collision claimed 280 lives. The TMC supremo met Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and said “this is not a time to do politics”.

“Railway provides Rs 10 Lakhs as compensation. We will provide Rs 5 Lakhs each to the people of our state and cooperate and work with the Railways and Odisha Government until the work is complete,” Mamata Banerjee said after visiting the site.

Had they put an anti-collusion device here, so many people would not have died,” the TMC supremo said in front of Ashwini Vaishnaw.

“There was no anti-collusion device in the Coromandel Express. When I was the Railway Minister, I introduced an anti-collision device that ensured trains running on the same track stop at a certain distance. Now, when you (Ashwini Vaishnaw) are here, I want to point out that there was no anti-collusion device on this train. This incident could have been avoided with the implementation of such technology,” Mamata Banerjee said.

Mamata Banerjee, who served as the railway minister in the BJP-led NDA government in 1999, said, “Nowadays, the railway budget is not presented. The Railways is like my baby. I am a member of the railway family and ready to give my suggestions.”

Mamata Banerjee had joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and was allocated the Railway Ministry in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cabinet in 1999. In 2000, in her first railway budget, she introduced a lot of new express trains in West Bengal.

Banerjee took over as the railway minister of the UPA-II government in May, 2009. She resigned from the post in 2013 when she was set to take over as West Bengal Chief Minister.

On Friday, two passenger trains — Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express — and a goods train were involved in an accident that was triggered by a derailment. According to officials and eyewitnesses, the massive tragedy took place in a matter of minutes, between 6.50 pm and 7.10 pm.

While it is not clear what caused the crash, some officials ruled out the possibility of a signalling failure, PTI reported.

“I am standing here with the Railway Minister and BJP MPs. The Bengal government will provide Rs 5 lakh each to the people of our state and cooperate and work with the Railways and Odisha Government until the work is complete. We have also sent 40 doctors and two buses from Bengal to Odisha for further medical assistance,” the chief minister said, taking stock of the situation.

Calling for a thorough probe into the accident, Mamata Banerjee said, “A detailed investigation needs to be done to determine how many people have died. I have heard 500 people have died.”

“If serious patients can’t be treated here, I am ready to take them to Kolkata for medical treatment,” the TMC chief said.

“Shocked to know that the Shalimar-Coromondel express, carrying passengers from West Bengal, collided with a goods train near Balasore today evening and some of our outbound people have been seriously affected/ injured. We are coordinating with Odisha government and South Eastern Railways for our people’s sake. Our emergency control room has been activated at once with numbers 033- 22143526/ 22535185. All out efforts for rescue, retrieval, aid and assistance initiated,” Banerjee had tweeted.

“We are sending a 5-6 member team to the spot to cooperate with the Odisha government and railway authorities and to assist rescue operations. I am monitoring the situation continually personally with Chief Secretary and other senior officers,” her tweet read.

The Bengal government has opened a 24×7 control room in Nabanna, the state secretariat. Senior IAS officers are on duty round the clock to monitor and supervise the control room.

An hourly situation report is being compiled and being acted upon for all the information being received by the control room and through block/district offices.

A special team consisting of 4 senior IAS officers, 4 Deputy Magistrates and 1 SDPO have been camping at Balasore since yesterday to coordinate. Till 12 noon today, 70 ambulances with 34 doctors and 10 buses and 20 mini-trucks have reached Balasore. 2 disaster management group teams of police are enroute to Balasore.

While five patients have been admitted to Medinipur Medical College, six others are undergoing treatment at Ghatal Super-Specialty Facility in West Bengal. The Chief Secretary also held an urgent VC meeting with all DMs, CPs and SPs to coordinate the relief efforts.

-PTI