Fifth Railway accident under Lalu
Tries to shift focus, blaming Modi
VSK, Gujarat
People have hardly forgotten the Sabarmati Express carnage at Godhra railway station; the same train again met with another serious accident. The Varanasi-Ahmedabad Sabarmati Express rammed into a stationary goods train at Samalaya station at 3.10 a.m. on April 21. Samalaya is barely 20 km from Vadodara. The impact and speed of the train was so high that the engine of the train was completely damaged, whereas the compartments, especially the S-6 to S-10 coaches, almost climbed over one another, leaving 12 people dead and 100 injured, out of whom 40 are seriously injured.
As soon as the news of the accident reached the town, over 100 local RSS Swayamsevaks rushed to the accident site to render help. They pulled out the injured passengers from various bogies, and also evacuated the dead.
Soon afterwards, the Gujarat Chief Minister, Shri Narendra Modi reached the spot and took charge of all relief and rehabilitation activities. Those seriously injured were rushed to the Sayajirao Gaekwad Hospital at Vadodara. An OPD was also set up to render medical aid to those with minor injuries. Ministers Shri Amit Shah, Ashok Bhatt, Kausik Patel, Jayendra Singh, an MLA from Halol, and Chandrakantbhai Pandya from the doctor'scell of Panchamahal district were also present at the site.
When Union Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav, reached the spot, he had to face a furious crowd, who pelted stones at his car and hurled water pouches at him. Lalu Prasad thereafter vanished from the scene.
The police officers did not fail to recognise the timely help rendered by the RSS Swayamsevaks, who not only removed the injured and the dead, but also took out luggage from the bogies, classified them and helped the passengers to take their respective packages after proper identification.
Shri Ansari, General Manger, Western Railway, in an interview indicated that the accident could have been averted and attributed it to human error.
