Probe will be fair, impartial: Nitish

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JULY 14. The Union Railway Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, has said that the inquiry into the Kadalundi rail mishap by the Chief Railway Safety Commissioner would be ``totally fair and impartial'' and offered to order ``any other sort of inquiry'' that the State may seek in the event of the current probe proving to be unsatisfactory.

Mr. Kumar told presspersons after discussions on rail safety in Kerala with the Chief Minister, Mr. A. K. Antony, his Cabinet colleagues, MPs and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. V. S. Achuthanandan, here today that the Railways were as much keen about finding the true reason for the Kadalundi mishap as the people of the State.

He appealed to the people not to be prejudiced against the ongoing inquiry in the light of the Railway Safety Commissioner's probe into the Perumon rail disaster which had come up with the `tornado theory'.

The Railways and Parliament had rejected the report and constituted an expert committee to probe the accident afresh. Only the report of the expert committee was accepted and several measures had been taken on the basis of it, he explained.

Mr. Kumar said the office of the Railway Safety Commissioner was outside the ambit of the Railways. The office was under the administrative control of the Directorate of Civil Aviation and as such the Railways had no control over it.

The decision to have a second inquiry by the Chief Railway Safety Commissioner into the Kadalundi mishap was taken to ensure that it was free and fair, he added.

Asked why the Government was not prepared to order a judicial probe, he said such inquiries never produced the desired results. When told that the Chief Railway Safety Commissioner's inquiry procedures left much to be desired, the Minister said anybody who has any information to provide to the inquiry officer could do so in writing.

Pier gave up

The Railway Minister said it was a fact that one of the piers of the Kadalundi bridge had `failed' and that the Railways wanted to know the truth `not just for the passengers, but for safety of Railways.' Traffic through the rebuilt bridge would commence by July 31.

The Railways would also replace the bridge once the new one under construction was commissioned. The Railways had identified several aged bridges in the State for urgent renovation and replacement and sanctioned renewal of 250 km of tracks, he said.

Mr. Kumar, who was accompanied by the Union Minister of State for Railways, Mr. O. Rajagopal, the Railway Board Chairman, Mr. Ashok Kumar, and senior Railway Board members, said doubling of the Mangalore-Kozhikode line would be completed by March, 2003 and doubling of the Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram line would be speeded up.

Sanction had been issued for doubling of the line between Ernakulam and Kayamkulam. Survey was on for constructing satellite terminals in the State capital.

The Minister said it had been decided to station a Chief Engineer in Kerala and have quarterly meetings between Member (Engineering) and the Chief Secretary for better coordination between the State Government and the Railways. He said funds shortage would not be allowed to come in the way of railway development work in Kerala. The Railways hoped to get Rs. 2,500 crores from the Rs. 70,000-crore Railway Safety Fund announced recently. Sufficient funds would be made available to Kerala as soon as the money was received.

The Transport Minister, Mr. K.B. Ganesh Kumar, who is in charge of Railways in the State, was also present at the news conference.

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Section  : Southern States
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