Some ‘sabotage’ for Nitish Express

What he did not mention was how, on May 22, violating all norms, Railway Board chairman I I M S Rana issued a handwritten order diverting about 2,500 maintenance employees from different zones across the country, including a ‘‘labour special’’ 12-coach train from Mumbai. Objective: to lay a new line at Fatuha-Islampur in Union Railways Minister Nitish Kumar’s constituency.

By the way, Nitish Kumar and Rana floated the sabotage theory a day after the Rajdhani accident, Rana even mentioning Pakistan!

Official records show that to comply with Rana’s order, of all those diverted, 528 were from Mughalsarai, Dhanbad and Asansol—three divisions that are meant to monitor safety and maintenance on the Howrah-Delhi Grand Chord line on which the Rajdhani runs.

All the workers diverted were maintenance workers: gangmen, permanent way staff and junior engineers, those who are supposed to check for fish-plate damage and wear and tear of lines.

The Sunday Express, which has a copy of Rana’s order, visited the construction site and talked to scores of officers in the region.

The diverted staff worked for varying periods, some from May 24 to the end of July. Last week, over 100 of them were seen still working at the site for the Government-owned Indian Railways Construction Company (IRCON) which is in charge of the project.

The details of the diversion:
• Sealdah Division: 47 staff (from June 10 to July 2)
• Dhanbad: 188 staff (from May 24 to July 23) and 55 staff since September 9
• Mughalsarai: 169 staff (from May 24 to July 24) and 50 staff since September 8
• Asansol: 174 staff (from June 22 to July 15)
• Danapur: 20 staff (from June 10 to July 16) and 30 since August 1

A questionnaire was sent to Rana on Sept 20. His office confirmed its receipt but there has been no response. Nitish’s office said he was not available for comment.

General Manager, Eastern Railway, Sunil Sengupta, declined to comment saying the Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) should be contacted. CPRO, Soumitra Majumdar, said: ‘‘What can I say?’’ Divisional Railway Manager, Mughalsarai, K K Saxena said that Ramesh Kumar, Divisional Engineer (Co-ordination) should be contacted. Fatuha-Islampur is a 42.7-km rail-link that falls in Nitish’s constituency. Experts say this is such a low-lying area that even mild rainfall results in submergence. When The Sunday Express visited the site, every bridge that’s been newly built shows water erosion at its base.

The project was envisaged as ‘‘restoration of old line’’ for which the Ministry sanctioned Rs 49.65 crore in 1998-99 during Nitish Kumar’s first stint.

Then it went up to Rs 232.83 crore as a ‘‘new line’’ project was included with proposals for a line from Daniyawan to Biharsharif and from Biharsharif to Barhbigha.