Though the Perumon train tragedy of July 8, 1988, which left 105 persons dead, is one of the biggest railway accidents in the history of the country, Railways have disregarded the tragedy for long, failing to come up with real cause of the accident even now, Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has said.
“The attitude of Railways towards the Perumon accident is not isolated. It is the general attitude of Railways towards Kerala.”
Mr. Achuthanandan said this while addressing a gathering at the accident site on Wednesday evening after inaugurating a meeting to observe the 27th anniversary of the tragedy.
Slow pace
A probe ordered by Railways had come to a conclusion that a tornado which hit the area at that time had caused the accident, he said.
“That conclusion is far-fetched and unbelievable; the people of Perumon did not experience any such tornado. Even now the real cause of the accident remains a mystery because of the attitude of Railways.” He said that all railway projects in the State were moving at a snail’s pace because of this attitude. “This makes the people of the State wonder whether Kerala is getting steadily erased from the railway map of the country.”’
Driving to stirs
This attitude of Railways forced the people of the State to agitate for what was due to them, he added.
State Police Chief T.P. Senkumar, who was the Kollam district superintendent of police at the time of the accident, spoke.
Helplessness
In his address, Mr. Senkumar said that he had reached the site soon after the accident and had the misfortune of seeing hands coming out of the bogie windows gesturing to be saved and then going down into the waters. For 10 days after the accident the Kollam SP office functioned from Perumon, he said.
