Siliguri, July 19: Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Tuesday said he was planning to set up an independent safety and security Board to strengthen passenger and freight security.
“I am planning to have a Safety and Security Board in line with similar arrangements in the US. This board will run independently and solely look after the safety and security aspects of the Indian Railways,” Trivedi told reporters here.
The modalities of the new board, however, was yet to be worked out, he said.
Trivedi’s announcement comes close on the wheels of the Kalka Mail accident in Uttar Pradesh that killed 70 people and injured 250 others.
In reply to a question, Trivedi said he was expecting the inquiry report of the July 10 mishap “any time”.
Trivedi, who became Railway Minister last week, said his road map of work would be the “Vision 20:20” introduced by the then Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“Mamata Banerjee works for 24 hours. We will follow this. The projects announced by her will be implemented,” he said.
Pointing out that the number of unmanned level crossings in the country, mostly in rural areas, Trivedi said unauthorised crossings were not visible in the railway maps.
“We are asking the state governments to look into the problem. The panchayats and the municipalities should take steps to ensure that people do not cross the tracks at unauthorised places,” he said.
Earlier, at a function in the Kanchenjunga stadium, Trivedi and chief minister Banerjee flagged off the metre guage Rail Bus service on the 10-km Siliguri-Bagdogra route and the first broad gauge train service in the Siliguri-Alubari section after gauge conversion.
They also inaugurated a DEMU shed here and a cold storage under the Kisan Vision project at Bagdogra, besides also laying the foundation stone for a table tennis academy.
—-PTI—–