Farooq Abdullah's demand after Odisha train accident: 'Needs to be probed by…' | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Farooq Abdullah's demand after Odisha train accident: 'Needs to be probed by…'

Jun 03, 2023 09:40 PM IST

Farooq Abdullah's statement comes after the tragic train accident in Balasore killed nearly 300 people and injured around 803.

National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on Saturday demanded an inquiry by an independent retired judge into the triple train accident in Odisha's Balasore that has claimed around 290 lives so far. “This is a very sad incident...More than 250 people have died. If one train met with an accident then how come the other two trains were not stopped…” Abdullah said, adding that “there must be some error that needs to be investigated by an independent retired judge".

Farooq Abdullah(ANI)
Farooq Abdullah(ANI)

Abdullah's statement comes after the tragic train accident in Balasore injured around over 800 people.

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What actually happened

Initial probe suggested that the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express took the loop line instead of the main line just ahead of Bahanagar Bazar station on Friday evening, a senior railway official said. The 12841 Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express running at about 127 km per hour collided with the goods train parked on the loop line and derailed on the main line. Within minutes of the collision, according to the official cited above, the Howrah-bound Yashwantnagar Express coming from the opposite direction collided with the Coromandel Express.

READ | Karnataka pilgrims escape unhurt form Odisha train crash; recount horror

Opposition hits out at Centre over tragic incident

Opposition parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and others, have hit out at the Centre over the tragedy and demanded the resignation of railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

"In the past, five railway ministers resigned taking moral responsibility for major accidents (during their tenure). In the same way, the current railway minister (Vaishnaw) should take moral responsibility and tender his resignation," NCP leader Ajit Pawar said.

Meanwhile, NCP spokesperson Clyde Crasto said in a statement, "Expecting Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to resign on moral grounds for the Odisha train accident will not yield any result, because if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) believed in morality then it would have asked (outgoing WFI chief and party MP) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh to resign a long time ago."

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