NEW DELHI: Mukul Roy did not even have beginner’s luck on the day he took over the Railway Ministry citing safety as his priority, as 16 people were killed when a train rammed into a van in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.
On the day Mukul Roy read his oath in Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Mathura-Kasganj express train rammed an overcrowded jeep at an unmanned railway crossing in Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh in the morning.
Unlike his predecessor Dinesh Trivedi, who, after taking oath on July 12 last year, visited the site of a major accident in Fatehpur that claimed 68 lives, even before he headed to Rail Bhavan, Roy stayed put in Delhi, probably to avoid the bad luck that followed his fore-runner.
As insisted by Trinamool Congress supremo and Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, Mukul Roy took over as Railway Minister on Tuesday, and was elevated to Cabinet rank.
“Safety, security and punctuality will be my priority as the Railway Minister,” he said, shortly after being sworn in as a Minister at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
It would be difficult to say soon whether he is he lucky enough or not.