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New Delhi: Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda on Monday offered his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the train accident in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri and said that the railway accidents are the result of the "mismanagement" and "negligence" of the Central government towards the railways.
As many as eight people have died and about 25 to 30 are injured as a goods train collided with the Sealdah-bound Kanchanjungha Express on Monday morning near New Jalpaiguri, a senior North Frontier Railway (NFR) official said.
"On behalf of the Congress Party, we pay our condolences. We pray for the speedy recovery of all those injured. The increase in railway accidents in the last 10 years is a result of the mismanagement and negligence of the Central Government towards the railways. Due to this, the lives of passengers are being lost every day," Hooda said.
The Congress leader further said that the opposition will continue to question this negligence and will seek answers from the government in Parliament.
"As a responsible opposition, we will continue to question this negligence and will seek answers from the government in Parliament as well.
Along with this, as our national president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have appealed to our Congress workers in their statements to ensure that Congress workers contribute as much as possible in relief work," he added.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose left for Bagdogra from Kolkata airport. He will meet the injured of the Kanchenjunga Express train accident in Darjeeling district.
The accident took place at Ruidhasa near Rangapani station in the Katihar Railway Division ahead of New Jalpaiguri Junction at around 8:45 am today. The area falls in the Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district.
Kanchanjungha Express which runs between Silchar in Assam to Sealdah in Kolkata was on its way from Agartala in Tripura to Sealdah when the goods train hit it from behind, according to Sabyasachi De, Chief Public Relations Officer - Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR).
A wagon of the Kanchenjunga Express train was suspended in the air after a goods train rammed into it at Ruidhasa near Rangapani station under the Siliguri subdivision in the Darjeeling district.
Meanwhile, rescue efforts to extricate trapped passengers are ongoing. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and police are present at the Kanchenjunga Express train accident site in Ruidhasa in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal.
