Patna: Union Minister Lalan Singh has shocked everyone with his insensitive remarks on the Mysore-Darbhanga Bagmati Express train in Tamil Nadu. “Arrey hota rehta hai train accident…(Train accidents keep happening),” he said on Saturday while answering a question related to the incident.
The Mysuru-Darbhanga Bagmati Express collided with a stationary freight train in TN's Kavarapettai, following which several passengers sustained injuries on Friday evening. “Train no. 12578 passed Ponneri at 20:27 hours. The crew experienced a heavy jerk, and the train entered the loop line and collided with stabbed goods train. No casualty and a few injured,” a statement from the Railways read.
A fire broke out in two coaches of the express train, and 13 coaches derailed. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Singh, the Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Panchayati Raj downplayed the incident and took a casual approach while speaking about it.
Train accidents are a regular affair, he mentioned, adding that these are an everyday phenomenon because 'people are placing objects on the tracks. The accidents are being caused intentionally. The Railway Ministry is investigating it and action will be taken.”
Congress Strikes Back: The Opposition Congress launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government over the Union Minister’s remark, terming it both “insensitive” and “shameful.”
"Train accidents are happening every day in the country, people are losing their lives, people are getting injured. And Narendra Modi’s insensitive ministers are shrugging it off by calling it a ‘small incident’. Shameful!,” a statement by the Congress party said.
For the unversed, a team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrived at the accident spot—the Kavaraipettai Railway Station—on Saturday. Restoration work is underway so that train services can resume as soon as possible but rain has affected the pace of the process. Officials from the railways stated early on Saturday that the restoration process would take about 16 hours.
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