Rajya Sabha Member V. Vijaya Sai Reddy has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the release of the NIA report on the major accident near Kuneru Railway Station, to punish the guilty and to do justice to those who had died in the accident.
A total of 42 poor passengers had died on the spot and around 70 others were injured in the accident involving train no. 18448 Hirakhand Express from Jagdalpur to Bhubaneswar at 11.30 p.m. on January 21, 2017. Mr. Reddy said that it was reported that the then DRM had influenced the investigation through the then Union Minister of Civil Aviation P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju. He alleged that Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) was managed by Mr. Ashok as the CRS was under his direct control. He also alleged that the then railway officials had spent lakhs of rupees to ‘manage the accident’, which was reportedly caused by neglect of the track.
‘No naxal involvement’
Mr. Reddy also drew the attention of the Prime Minister to the reports that the then DRM with the support of the then State government managed the CB-CID and misguided the NIA team. He also alleged that before sunrise on January 22, 2017, a team of contract labour was arranged and the rails were tampered in order to shift the blame on the naxalites/extremists though the accident had occurred near the operating cabin.
In response to the allegation made by the then Divisional Administration on naxalites, the DGP of Odisha and SP of Rayagada gave a statement ruling out naxal involvement as there was round-the-clock monitoring and movement of railway operations staff close to the accident spot.
The report from the Forensic Science Lab (FSL) had also declared that there was no naxalite/extremist involvement.
Mr. Reddy noted that the deceased passengers were mostly from tribal and downtrodden families from North Andhra and Odisha. He urged the Prime Minister to arrange for release of the NIA report or to constitute an Apex Level Committee for thorough investigation and to punish those, whose negligence was responsible for the accident, based on facts.
