Technical snags might have led to the Thursday’s train accident at Moynaguri in North Bengal that left 9 people dead and many others injured, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said aftervisiting the spot.
This, even as BJP MP Rupa Ganguly demanded a CBI investigation into the mishap considering the timing of the accident.
“Are the Railway tracks thinking creatures that they will cause the train to derail … Do trains derail out of nothing … we have to consider the timing of the accident … the elections are around and considering the fact that no big mishap has taken place in the past several years it becomes imperative to get the investigation conducted by the CBI to ascertain the truth,” Ganguly said drawing instant reaction from the ruling Trinamool Congress.
“Even the Union Railway Minister has not said anything about any conspiracy … even he has pointed at some technical snag and here their leader is raising political issues which is unacceptable ... instead of reaching out to the people they are politicizing the matter,” saidTMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.
Meanwhile, former engineers of the Railways said that prima facie it seemed that one of traction motors of the engine had fallen off blocking the tracks and causing the coaches to derail. “We are conducting a high level investigation and will make things known soon after we come to a conclusion,” Commissioner for Railway Safety Latif Khan said.
Twelve coaches of the Bikaner-Guwahati Express train had derailed and some of them capsized near Domohani in Jalpaiguri district on Thursday.