Railway clarifies MOS comments on Bihar train accident

A day after Nitish angrily reacted to comments of Adhir Ranjan Chaudhury, the Railway put onus on media for "misunderstanding" the minister`s remarks.

Patna: A day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar angrily reacted to comments of Minister of State for Railway Adhir Ranjan Chaudhury blaming state government for the train disaster at Dhamara Ghat which claimed 28 lives, the Railway on Thursday put the onus on media for "misunderstanding" the minister`s remarks. During the visit to the incident site at Dhamara ghat station in Khagaria district past midnight on Monday night, the MOS had said that he was not there to put a blame for the tragedy on anyone, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) East Central Railway Amitabh Prabhakar said in a clarification issued at zonal headquarters at Hajipur.

The objective of the minister`s visit was to meet the injured and oversee the incident site to take measures so that such incidents are not repeated in future, the release said. In the process, Chaudhury announced the construction of a platform, foot-over-bridge (FOB) and public announcing system. "Further he felt that the incident could have been averted had the local civil administration worked in coordination and anticipated such a large crowd at this small station in view of the puja at Katyani mandir on last Somwari (monday) of Shrawan month," it said. "However, his statement has been misunderstood as many of the electronic and print media have said that the minister has blamed the state government," the clarification said. A high level inquiry has been ordered by the Railway to look into all aspects of incidence and appropriate action and corrective measures will be taken wherever required, it added. The Bihar Chief Minister has yesterday decried the state minister`s comments and dubbed it as "highly irresponsible." "By giving such comments he has made a fool of himself," Kumar had told reporters. PTI