A day after a major train accident involving the Howrah-Kurla Jnaneswari Express and a goods train here, the death count rose to 141 on Saturday while more than 180 injured passengers are admitted to hospitals in Paschim Medinipur district and in Kolkata.
The death toll could rise, with more bodies feared still trapped under the debris of the mangled coaches.
Thirteen coaches of the express jumped the track between the Khemasuli and Sardiha stations in the early hours of Friday and an oncoming goods train rammed the derailed coaches, resulting in one of the worst rail disasters in the recent times.
Meanwhile, the first information report filed by the driver of the express, B.K. Das, made no mention of Maoists as being behind the incident.
The Government Railway Police's Additional Director-General (Railways), Dilip Mitra, told The Hindu that Mr. Das made no charge against any person or group. “The FIR says the driver heard the sound of an explosion underneath the locomotive while passing through the spot and realised that the train had derailed. He saw the other train coming and flashed the emergency signal, but the latter did not stop and rammed the derailed coaches,” Mr. Mitra said, adding that the case was handed over to the State's Criminal Investigation Department.
Earlier in the day, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said she saw a “conspiracy” behind the incident and suspected that an explosion on the track caused the derailment, even as the State government directly blamed the Maoists.
Director-General of Police Bhupinder Singh said the Maoists and some members of the Maoist-backed Police Santrash Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee (PSBJC) were behind the incident and some of them were arrested. He said investigations by the CID's forensic team did not find any sign of an explosion on the track. The PSBJC, however, denied any hand in the incident.
Ananya Dutta reports from Kolkata
Ms. Banerjee said the Centre had agreed to an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the disaster.
“The incident is serious… It took place in the Jangalmahal area where the Home Ministry is already involved in joint operations against the Maoists,” she said. Exonerating personnel of the Railway Protection Force from the charge of lack of vigil, she said three passenger trains and a goods train had passed through the spot just before the Jnaneswari Express.
Keywords: Train derailment, Maoists, Mamata Banerjee, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Jnaneswari Express, Gyaneshwari Express
This act is inhuman, now we have lot of terrorists living in India only, forget about POK.
Atleast now center and states should put aside their political motives and work united to root out this problem.
The Govt should find a solution. The PM & Sonia Gandhi should visit site. We are killing innocent people.
Everytime there is an attack by terrorists/naxalites, the press rightly lambasts them. Everyone cries hoarse for a few days - condeming the 'inhuman' acts, and asking CBI to investigate, after a few days everything is back to normal. A Minister related to the area of incident visits the area, offers to resign and PM/CM reject their resignations.
THE REAL LOSERS IN THIS GAME ARE THOSE INNOCENT FAMILIES BEING MURDERED WITH THE INCAPABLE GOVT SITTING AS A MUTE SPECTATOR
'Accident' you say? What a travesty? It was murder, cold blooded, calculated, premeditated and brutal! When are we going to face facts and deal with them swiftly? How many more must die before our spineless leaders muster up courage to crush these barbarians?
Life has no value in India. A few hunded killed, no big deal, a mere drop in the bucket.
Why on earth can't state Govt., TMC and WB Govt. work together on this issue is beyond me. I can only hope that the central Govt. does not use Maoists as a pawn to win the next election.
Whenever a Maoist attack takes place and people get killed, the media rightly trains its guns on the insurgents. But the Central government which has declared that the Maoists are the gravest threat to internal security and the concerned State government are held responsible for the failure of the security apparatus. The Central government is responsible for national security and the State governments have to maintain law and order in their respective States. Just by crying hoarse about the cruelty of the insurgents (everyone knows that an insurgency is not a non-violent struggle) and leaving the guardians of the peoples' security free from criticism for their failures, the media, large sections of it, is not serving the public interest adequately. When will Indian media realise that criticising the security failures of the governments in times of a national crisis is not, by itself, an unpatriotic act?
Home and Defence Ministries should not waste further time. They must launch a mission for effective eradication of terror attacks.
Who are these Criminal Maoist/Naxalites whatever attacking? Attacking innocents & children! These FUNDACRIMINALS should be be shown absoulutely no mercy!
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