Centre preparing White Paper on railway safety

Railway Minister Nitish Kumar has assured that the Government will soon come out with a white paper on rail safety while rejecting the conte...

Railway Minister Nitish Kumar has assured that the Government will soon come out with a white paper on rail safety while rejecting the contention that there has been a fall in passenger traffic because of safety concerns.

‘‘There is no link between accidents and shortfall in passenger travel. It is necessary to contradict such apprehensions,’’ he said. ‘‘The figures for 2002-2003 show there has been an increase in the passenger traffic in Rajdhanis and mail express. Only the passenger traffic in suburban trains has fallen,’’ Nitish said.

Godhra victim-list in House next week: Nitish

NEW DELHI: A list of those killed in last year’s Godhra train carnage will be tabled in the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar informed the House on Thursday. Responding to a query from Congress chief whip Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi in the course of the debate on the Rail Budget, the minister said he was ready to table the report in the House whenever the Chair allowed.
He said the Railways had deputed 150 employees to investigate the matter. They visited the houses of all those travelling on the Sabarmati Express to verify the list of the victims. He said ex-gratia payment had been made to the next of the kin of those killed as per the provisions of the Railway Act and compensation claims were being expedited. (ENS)

‘‘We are preparing a White Paper on safety and this should be debated here in this session,’’ he said while replying to a debate on the Railway Budget for 2003-2004 in which 120 members of Lok Sabha participated.

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‘‘We are spending Rs 129 crore extra on railway safety. We are bringing in anti-collision devices to prevent collision,’’ he said. ‘‘We are also making special coaches which will increase safety even in the event of an accident,’’ he said, adding that Rs 2,311 crore have been earmarked for a special railway safety fund.

Observing that the initial report into Howrah-Rajdhani express accident at Rafigunj suggested that it was due to sabotage, Nitish said he favoured all reports on rail accidents to be made public. ‘‘I feel that the inquiry report should be made public. I have written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which conducted the inquiry to publish it,” he added.

The House passed the vote on account for railways for a four month period till July of over Rs 14,000 crore as also supplementary demand for grant for 2002-03 and relevant appropriation bills. The Rail Budget with an outlay of Rs 43,000 crore would be taken up by Parliament next month after the three-week Budget session recess from March 14.

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