BHUBANESWAR: The Railway Ministry has come under heavy flak for poor safety measures resulting in increasing number of accidents, the recent one being at Kuneru in Andhra Pradesh killing 41 passengers.
“This is the fifth accident in the last five months and it is clear that due attention is not paid to railway safety,” CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury told reporters here on Tuesday.
Quoting Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s reply in the Parliament, Yechury said the total number of vacancies in safety category posts is 1.4 lakh which is not acceptable.
In his 2016-17 Budget speech, Prabhu said rail safety will be one of the priority areas. However, he has done nothing to fill up the high number of posts lying vacant in the safety category, thereby compromising the safety of passengers.
Ridiculing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his grandiose plan to introduce bullet train, Yechury said the Indian Railways should focus more on safety aspects.
“Instead of being preoccupied with the bullet train, the PM should give more attention to safety infrastructure of the Railways,” he remarked.
Since railway will now be a part of the General Budget, there is every possibility of a further squeeze in budgetary support for safety measures, he said.
Stating that the operating ratio of Indian Railways is too high (about 94 percent) as much of its revenue goes into meeting its expense, Yechury said proper budgetary support is needed for safety measures.
Yechury, a member of Rajya Sabha, said his party will raise the issue during Budget session of the Parliament.
Replying to a question on the merger of railway with General Budget, the CPM general secretary said the NDA Government will make all possible efforts to use the massive property of Indian Railways to generate revenue to meet the shortfall.
Dubbing the Election Commission (EC)’s order on holding the Budget session just before the Assembly elections of five States as peculiar, Yechury said the coming Budget will be most impressionable and manipulative. There is a design to influence the ensuing polls in the five States, he said.
Responding to a separate question, Yechury said the next round of elections, particularly the Uttar Pradesh result, will be like a ‘triple talaq’ for the BJP which has been rejected in Delhi and Bihar.