Railways Ministrer Suresh Prabhu (Express Photo by Renuka Puri)
RAILWAYS MINISTER Suresh Prabhu’s tenure has seen the maximum number of passenger deaths due to derailment of trains in a decade, according to official statistics. Data available for the last 10 years show 193 passengers died in derailments in 2016-17 — the highest in a year since 2006-07. The 2015-16 figures taken with this year’s fatalities from train derailments, including Saturday’s derailment of Utkal Express in Khatauli near Muzaffarnagar, takes the number of passengers killed in derailments to 249. Prabhu assumed office in November 2014.
In comparison, 84 people died in 157 derailments in the last three years of the UPA government, as many as 73 of those deaths recorded in 2011-12 alone. The magnitude of derailments in the past three years can be gauged from the total number of passengers impacted in those accidents. Figures say derailments in the past three years have killed and injured 1,135 passengers in 207 such mishaps.
While incidents of derailment each year have been on a downward spiral since 100 such accidents were recorded in 2007-08, the last three years have shown an upward trend: from 63 in 2014-15 (Prabhu’s first year in office) to 78 in 2016-17.
Under fire for the latest derailment in Khatauli that killed 20 and injured 92 on Saturday, Suresh Prabhu’s office on Monday released figures to buttress the point that during his tenure, train travel has become safer going by the numbers. However, the 800-word note does not mention train derailments, and the consequent deaths, during Prabhu’s tenure. The note does not in fact mention the word “derailment”, even though the biggest passenger casualty figures in train mishaps under the Narendra Modi government since May 2014 have been due to derailments.
According to the official note, the number of accidents decreased in the last three years — from 135 in 2014-15 to 107 in 2016-17 — but that did not lead to a drastic fall in fatality figures, which show 685 passengers died in 346 accidents. In the three years preceding that, 675 passengers died in 371 accidents, indicating that fewer accidents caused more or less similar degrees of casualties in the three years under Prabhu.
The note from the ministry and Prabhu’s office says: “Investments for safety have increased from Rs 33,972 crore per year during the UPA-II to Rs 54,031 crore every year under this government, a jump of 60 per cent. The average vacancy in safety positions during the period 2009-10 to 2013-14 was 18.65 per cent of the total sanctioned strength. This has dropped to 16.86 per cent in 2017 despite the sanctioned strength increasing by 5 per cent from 2014 to 2017.”
