Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today demanded allocation of Rs 50,000 crore for ‘Special Railway Safety Fund’ to improve safety system in Indian Railways. In his letter addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Minister of State for Railways and National BJP Executive member Bandaru Dattatraya, said it was unfortunate that without preliminary enquiry, Minister for Railways Mukul Roy declared that Tamil Naidu Express train accident was a conspiracy. In yesterday’s train accident, 32 persons were burnt to death when flames engulfed the S 11 coach of Chennai-bound Tamil Nadu Express near Nellore, while in August 2008 32 lives were lost when Gowthami Express met with an accident near Mahbubabad in Warangal district, he said.
At that time also, the railway authorities had declared that it was conspiracy but later it was found out that the accident took place because of electrical short circuit, he pointed out. Everyday around two crore passenger commute across 10,000 trains in the country and this was the fourth fire accident in the Indian Railways in the last two years, the senior BJP leader said and alleged that an ambitious plan was submitted earlier this year by the Expert Group for the modernization of Indian Railways that required Rs 5,60,000 crore over next five years, but the government did not seem to have focused adequately on the safety aspect. More UNI