Utkal Express Crash Aftermath: Need A ‘Five-Year Plan’ For Indian Railways, Says Swamy

Following the derailment of 14 coaches of the Puri-Haridwar-Kalinga Utkal Express which killed 23 people, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday suggested a five-year plan for the Indian Railways, adding that all the money earned by the state-owned transport provider should remain with it.

“We should have a five-year plan where we put enormous resources and the money earned by the railways remains with it. No dividend should be passed on to the Finance Ministry and the budget of the Railway Ministry should be returned to it,” BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said.

Launching a counter attack on Rashrtiya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's accusation that the Railway Minister was responsible for the derailment, Swamy said all these problems have been accumulated over the years and the worst period was when Yadav was himself the railway minister.

"When Lalu, in order to show improvement and to attract the schools from abroad to visit here and do some image build up, he overloaded the tracks and added five-six extra boggies, introduced whole big series of trains. I tell you, there was track saturation and the tracks were not being replaced but should be replaced after 30-40 years as they have become weak and worn out. By the time we came to power there was a cash crunch," he said.

Hailing Suresh Prabhu for his total dedication for his job, Swamy said, "he is best Railway Minister we ever had."

A total of 23 passengers were reported dead and 97 have been injured in the accident. All trains on the Meerut line have been cancelled or diverted until 6pm. (ANI)