Odisha train accident: Politicians and VIPs make beeline to visit spot in Balasore district

BHUBANESWAR: Politicians started thronging Bahanaga, a small town in Balasore district, around 180 kms from the state capital, as soon as news spread about the triple rain accident on Friday evening.
BJP MP from Balasore Pratap Sarangi was among the first to reach the accident spot at around 7.30pm.
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"I was at a village called Jamuna about 30 kms away from the site where we had a meeting to conduct a bicycle rally to be held on Saturday. We immediately rushed to the spot where we saw thousands of locals busy rescuing those trapped under the derailed bogies. In the dark it was difficult to assess the severity of the accident," said Sarangi.
BJD secretary and Jajpur MLA Pranab Prakash Das was the next prominent leader to reach at the accident site and coordinated the rescue operation by the locals. He was soon followed by revenue and disaster management minister Pramila Mallik who reached to take a stock of the rescue operations as teams of NDRF, ODRAF, fire service personnel and police already started rescuing people.
Union minister of state for tribal affairs Bisweswar Tudu also reached the spot in the night. Balasore MLA Swarup Das visited the site soon after the accident and later coordinated with hospitals in Balasore and ensured that each injured passenger must get medical aid or first-aid treatment. "we reached there at the earliest and made arrangements for shifting of injured persons and keeping them in safe places in Balasore, Soro and other places. Everyone has contributed in the rescue operation on humanitarian ground and worked hard to save lives," said Das.
The rescue operation continued throughout the night and as soon as sun started rising in the east choppers started flying over the site. As the day rises, the number of politicians and VIPs to the spot started rising. BJP state president Manmohan Samal reached the spot early in the morning followed by railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and union minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik with his team reached the spot at around 8.30 am and took stock of the situation accompanied by the railway minister Vaishnav. The CM described the incident as ‘extremely tragic’ and thanked the local people who worked overnight to save people from the wreckage.
Since both the trains involved in the accident were originating and terminating in Howrah, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee also made a quick visit to the spot at around 1 pm. Her government has also made arrangements of medical teams for the treatment and return of passengers to their home state.

The series of visits by VIPs to the accident spot does not end here as the prime minister Naendra Modi visited the spot in the evening.

“The visit of politicians and VIPs to the spot cause more inconvenience than help, people who could be utilized for rescue operation get diverted to handling of these VIPs visits. They only add to our woes of the victims, impairing and putting a stop to all efforts during their brief flying visits. The choppers that landed in the quickly prepared helipads could have been more appropriately used for ferrying the injured to nearly hospitals,” said cultural researcher Anil Dhir.
Raising concern over the diversion of police and security personnel on the visit of VIPs, Dhir said, “These visits seriously hamper the relief and rescue operations. These visits are an avoidable burden on the public exchequer as the actual cost incurred on such visits can be better used for railway safety.”