Railway Board member sent on leave

Railway Board member sent on leave

Context

• The Railway Ministry sent three top officials on leave, suspended four local level officials and transferred another official after prima facie finding lapses in the maintenance work that led to the derailment of the Puri-Haridwar Utkal Express in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday and claimed at least 24 lives.

Decisions taken by Railway minister

• Secretary-level officer and Railway Board Member (Engineering) A.K. Mittal, General Manager (Northern Railways) R.N. Kulshrestha and Divisional Railway Manager (Delhi) R.N. Singh were sent on leave.
• The divisional engineer and senior divisional engineer of the railway section were suspended while the central track engineer of the Northern Railway was transferred.
• The action came in after Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Sunday that he “will not allow laxity in operations by the Board.”
• He ordered the Railway Board Chairman to fix responsibility within a day of the accident.

The accident

• The welding work was under way near the Khatauli railway station in Uttar Pradesh, leaving a portion of the track without rails when the Utkal Express ran over it and derailed, as per the prima facie investigation.
• There were lapses at multiple levels in the track maintenance work, which was being carried out without taking due permission, before the accident on Saturday evening.
• The track maintenance work was routine and could have been carried out even a day later..