In a damning indictment of the state of the Indian railways, the Aam Aadmi Party attacked the PM and the BJP administration for their utter negligence and complacency in the maintenance of the Railways system. This condemnation comes on the heels of the devastating Balasore train accident that occurred in the beginning of June and took more than 280 lives. In a press conference today, AAP Senior Leader and MLA Shri Sanjeev Jha highlighted the frequency of train accidents, lack of upkeep of essential train equipment, overcrowding and sanitation issues inside the trains as well as budget cuts by the BJP government that have led to mounting accidents, derailing of trains, and inconvenience to the public. He mounted an attack on the BJP government at the Centre, placing the blame squarely on the PM and the Railways Minister for showing utter disregard for the condition of the Indian railways, while engaging in all kinds of PR and optics for self aggrandisement.
Expressing his dismay, Shri Sanjeev Jha said, “As we all know, the Balasore train accident that took the lives of over 280 people has been one of the most devastating occurrences of train accidents in the last few years. It has brought to the fore questions vis-à-vis train safety protocols and maintenance. This is not the first instance of negligence by the central government. Had lessons been learnt from past incidents, the Indian railways would not be in the position it is today. Such a big loss, and damage to property and person could have been avoided. Previously, in 2021-22, 35 such train accidents had taken place. In 2022-23, the figure was 48 train accidents. If we consider faulty indicators and signals to be negligence, then for that matter there have been 162 such instances. The fact of the matter is that the Prime Minister and his team are only concerned with PRs, with optics. They don’t care about the maintenance and upgradation of the Railways.”
The senior AAP leader also criticised the Railways Minister for speaking falsely when he had vouched in the Parliament that in the spirit of self-reliance, the Prime Minister had collaborated with a team of engineers to create technology to prevent train accidents. This turned out to be completely false. The technology was already present in India. “All the PM does is change names and promote it as his handiwork,” Shri Sanjeev Jha reiterated.
It should be noted that experts have said that the rail network in India is over 70,000 km in length. The Central Government has to spend over Rs. 1 lakh crore to maintain this network. However, this government has regularly reduced the share of the Railways in the budget. Shri Sandeep Pathak, who is a member of the Railway Board and a member of AAP Punjab had said in the first meeting of the Board that the anti collision and anti derailment systems of the Indian railways must be upgraded as soon as possible. But the government did not pay heed to this expert warning. Expressing his displeasure, Shri Sanjeev Jha asked, “Why does the PM not take such incidents of devastating train accidents seriously?”
Adding to these issues is the fact that the team engaged in maintenance of the tracks has been reduced by half, meaning fewer people are doing crucial maintenance work, leading to negligence. Why did the central government not make the effort of hiring more people in the maintenance and upgradation teams? The railways minister must answer all these burning questions.
Even the CAG reports have flagged that while the railways budget has been cut, even in the extant budget, adequate expenditure is not being undertaken by the government on maintenance and upgrading. There are more damning figures in the CAG reports. For instance, in 2020 the Government installed equipment for train maintenance in 46% of the trains, and it was observed that within 100 days of installation, this equipment broke down. Shri Sanjeev Jha added, “In my opinion, this can only mean that this equipment was being purchased from the secondary market, being of poor quality. But no audit has been conducted on this matter.”
Inside the trains, the condition is just as deplorable. At one time, AC 3 tier used to mean a comfortable journey for the passenger. Nowadays the lack of maintenance means travelling in AC 3 tier has become a more frightening experience than in passenger coaches. There is immense overcrowding. Sanitation and hygiene is nowhere in sight. The public also believes that the condition is getting worse with every passing year. So the question is, why are the railways minister and the Prime Minister sitting quietly, doing nothing, paying no heed to these issues?
Concluding the press conference, Shri Sanjeev Jha remarked, “Earlier, we used to think we have to save animals from colliding with the train. Now after the PM’s publicity over Vande Bharat trains, we find that we have to save the trains from stray animals! This is the level of attention being paid by the central government. A prime minister who is not even capable and sensitive enough to manage the Indian railways, cannot run the whole country!”
