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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken dialled Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and expressed sorrow over the tragic loss of lives due to the train accident in Odisha. “Thank @SecBlinken for the phone call expressing his support and sympathy on the Odisha railway accident. Such sentiments are deeply valued at this difficult time (sic),” Jaishankar tweeted.
“We inspected the hospital where people are getting treatment after train accident. We got to know that no Tamilians were admitted at the hospital. None of the Tamil Nadu passengers lost their lives there as of now, all are safe,” said Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin.
“Twenty eight out of the 127 people who had booked to travel by train were Tamils. Out of which 21 were found to be fine. The rest are doing fine too, people who are with them have confirmed. This accident should not have happened, the Union Government should find out what caused this damage and take appropriate action,” he added.
Altogether 260 people, who were injured in the triple train accident in Balasore, are currently undergoing treatment in various hospitals across Odisha, while around 900 have been discharged so far, health department officials were reported as saying by news agency PTI.
The railways has cancelled 123 trains, diverted 56, short-terminated 10 and rescheduled 14 trains due to the accident in Odisha in which 275 people were killed. These trains include those with journey commencing from June 3 to June 7. More details here
The railways on Sunday virtually ruled out driver error and system malfunction, indicating a possible “signalling interference” and hinting at “sabotage” and tampering of the electronic interlocking system behind the triple train accident that claimed over 270 lives in Odisha.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the “root cause” of the accident and the people responsible for the “criminal act” have been identified.
The BJP on Sunday asked opposition parties to not politicise the Balasore train accident and said the track record of the Congress-led UPA government’s railway ministers was nothing short of a disaster.
The Congress has demanded the resignation of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he should accept part of the responsibility for creating an all is well facade even as the critical infrastructure of the Indian Railways “languishes in neglect”.
Hitting back, Malviya said, “Stop politicising the unfortunate Balasore tragedy because track record of railway ministers, under the UPA, to put it mildly, was nothing short of disaster. Let us focus on relief and rescue operation and putting life and rail back on track, at the earliest.”
Who is running away from accountability? Our Union Ministers were present at the accident spot and doing their duties. Rahul Gandhi goes abroad and defames India. Who’s organising your programmes in the United States? For them (Congress), family is everything, the country is nothing, says Union Minister Anurag Thakur
— The railways on Sunday said that even ticketless travellers on board the passenger trains involved in the Odisha accident will receive compensation.
— This is in line with a Supreme Court order, officials said.
— “Irrespective of the passengers being ticketless (or not), they will receive compensation,” railway spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said.
“Yesterday, when he (Railway Minister) was present with me and I mentioned the anti-collision device, why didn’t he open his mouth? ‘Dal mein kuch kaala hai’, we want the truth to come out,” says West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.