Kolkata: Hours after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh directed him to visit the train derailment site in Assam, Minister of State for Railways Mukul Roy Monday evening left for the Maoist-hit Junglemahal area in West Bengal where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was also visiting.
"As per schedule, he has left for a two-day tour to the Maoist hit areas where Mamata Banerjee is also to visit," Trianmool sources said.
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister asked Roy to visit the site of the blast in Assam that derailed a passenger train, leaving at least 100 people injured, official sources said.
However, Roy kept himself busy during the day in the state assembly where four Trinamool Congress candidates filed their nominations for the Rajya Sabha.
When contacted, Roy refused to give a categoric reply on the prime minister's directive to him to visit the accident site where the Guwahati-Puri Express derailed near Ghograpara in Assam's Nalbari district.
"You can talk to the Chief Public Relations Officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway," Roy told IANS.
Regarding the Howrah-Kalka Mail disaster in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh, where at least 69 passengers were killed in an accident, Roy replied: "Whatever queries you have, you put to Mr (K.H.) Muniappa. He is looking after the entire matter."
Roy earlier told a television channel that he was only one of the ministers of state, while the prime minister was the cabinet minister. "The prime minister is the minister for railways. I am only a minister of state."
A Northeast Frontier Railway official said: "We have not yet received any official communication about Roy's visit."
However, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP and former chairman of railway standing committee Basudeb Acharia said "Now there seems to be a feud in the Trinamool Congress with Mukul Roy not happy over the likely elevation of Dinesh Trivedi (Trinamool Congress MP and MoS health and family welfare) as cabinet minister for railways."
In New Delhi, the opposition parties were scathing in their criticism of the government over the "political vacuum" in the railway ministry which they blamed for Sunday's railway accident that claimed at least 69 lives in Uttar Pradesh.
They said there has been no full time railway minister for the past two months and the previous incumbent Mamata Banerjee spent a lot of her time preparing for the West Bengal assembly polls. The opposition parties also accused the government of ignoring the crucial ministry.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari said it proved the government's non-seriousness on the issue. The Communist Party of India-Marxist, meanwhile, questioned the prime minister on why a railway minister had not been appointed as yet.
"The accident shows that the railway ministry and government is not serious about the safety of railway passengers. If the government does not take immediate steps to ensure the safety of passengers the situation will deteriorate and people will lose faith on the railway," Gadkari said.
Party spokesperson Jagat Prakash Nadda meanwhile blamed the coalition politics for "spoiling" the railways.
"We are concerned about the state of railways, during the UPA I and UPA II, the railways has become the victim of government's coalition politics," Nadda said.
CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said the government was responsible for the accident.
"No one has been given the charge of railways till now, the whole government is responsible for it, but the Railway Minister is responsible above all," Yechury told reporters.
"Why hasn't the prime minister appointed a new railway minister till now. He should tell the nation. People should not be losing their lives because of the government's inaction. This is serious," he said.
The accident Sunday involving the HOwrah-Kalka Mail in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh led to at least 69 passengers being killed. In another incident Sunday, over 100 people were injured when the Guwahati-Puri Express derailed due to a suspected bomb blast near Ghograpara in Assam's Nalbari distict. A few days ago, the Mathura-Chhapra Express hit a bus at an unmanned railway near Etah in Uttar Pradesh leaving 38 bus passengers dead.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP and former railway standing committee chairman Basudeb Acharia held both Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress party MP and junior railway minister Mukul roy responsible for the accidents.
"Those at the helm of affairs over the past two years have to take responsibility for the death of innocents. Mukul and Mamata cannot shirk their responsibility.
"When she had the railway portfolio, Mamata Banerjee used to stay in Delhi for only a day every week to go to her department Railway Bhavan. Her only aim was to become West Bengal chief minister. She totally neglected the railways," he said.
Acharia said under Banerjee and Roy, the posts of 1.20 lakh safety manoeuvring staff of the railways including those of thousands of gangmen were lying vacant. "From station manager, right up to the GM level many slots are vacant. Banerjee has done immense damage to the railways."
"Now there seems to be a feud in the Trinamool Congress with Mukul Roy not happy over the likely elevation of Dinesh Trivedi (Trinamool Congress MP and MoS health and family welfare) as cabinet minister for railways,"
Source: IANS
