Mobilenews24x7 Bureau
CBI to probe the Odisha rail accident, sounds little incongruous in the light of the standard procedure of any rail accident that kills passengers and leave others critically injured.
The latest death toll in the horrific train collision in Odisha on 2 June, officially stands at 288 people. This is likely to increase, both on paper and in body count, albeit with a chasm between the two, given that the unreserved deceased travelers may again not make it to the final chart of passengers prepared by the authorities.
With the Railway Board citing preliminary findings of a possible deliberate interference leading to the accident and referring the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), it raises pertinent questions regarding the processes involved in inquiring into train accidents and what really is the CBI doing here after all.
The Railways Act, 1989, in Chapter III provides for the appointment of a Chief Commissioner for Railway Safety (CCRS), and other such Commissioners of Railway Safety as deemed necessary by the Central Government.
Rules for holding inquiries into railway accidents are contained in ‘Statutory Investigation into Railway Accidents Rules -1998’ notified by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in a gazette dated 26.12.98 and another dated 06.03.99.
It can be categorized as a fatal accident and one of the most disastrous in last one century. So, and it is obligatory for the concerned Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) to inquire into the cause of the accident.
Pertinently, as described in the Commission’s Annual Report 2021-22, whatever be the cause of a collision or a derailment leading to loss of human life.
Thus, the fatal events of the night of 2 June, for the purposes of the Railways, amount to a serious accident with loss of human life, and the law mandates that such an accident be inquired and investigated by the CRS.
There comes into the picture the CRS that has to notify its duty to probe and communicates the date and schedule of the inquiry.
Given the mechanism in place the Railway should be under obligation to wait a bit for the outcome.
But instead the sudden assignment of the probe to the CBI has raised so many questions.
What was the hurry behind the handing over the entire gamut of the investigation to the CBI is somewhat not comprehensible at all.
Given its ‘caged parrot’ reputation in the past so many years, here in this case one smells a rat.
Deliberate or unintended lapse, but the preliminary findings do suggest that, the lapses were in the improper application of the safety measures be it is ‘Kavach’or the wrong inter-locking as reports said earlier.
Who should be accountable? The ministry, the top brasses or merely the bottom level staff.
