Inquiry ordered into tragic train accident under Railways Act: Fawad

ISLAMABAD, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Hussain Chaudhry on Monday informed the National Assembly that an inquiry had been ordered into the tragic train accident under the Railways Act 1890.

“The Federal Government Inspector for Railways is reaching at the site for investigating the cause of derailment and to assess damage and fix the responsibility,” he said while speaking in the House.

Giving the details of the accident, Fawad said at 03:38 hours, 18 coaches of Karachi to Sargodha Millat Express derailed and fell across the “down track” near the Raiti Railway Station, and Sir Syed Express coming from Rawalpindi to Karachi collided with them.

The driver of Sir Syed Express tried to apply emergency brakes, however, its locomotive hit the derailed coaches infringing the down track, he added.

The minister said a total of 1,388 passengers were on travelling on the two trains.
He said the people of whole country, including the opposition, were grieved over the tragic accident.

He fully agreed with the opposition’s demand that the incident should be thoroughly debated in this august House.

The debate, however, should be held in the presence of minister for railways as he was at the accident site to monitor the relief and rescue operation, he added.

Responding to the points raised by some members, the minister said the country had been facing such accidents due to negligence of the past governments for years. Pakistan had inherited an efficient railway system, but it along with other institutions was ruined by the neglect of previous regimes, he added.

Fawad said both the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Partly during their rule went on the corruption spree and plundered the national wealth. They did not allow any institution to flourish, rather ruined them by stuffing political appointments, he added.

He said the opposition leaders were taking credit for enhancing the budget for Railways during their governments. Locomotives were purchased by the PML-N government, and Khawaja Saad Rafique (its minister for railways) was facing a corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in that regard, he added.

The minister said the PML-N government had spent some Rs 300 billion on the Orange Line Train in Lahore. The Railways would not have faced such gruesome situation had the PML-N spent that amount on its betterment.

Similarly, Fawad said, the PML-N and PPP regimes had ruined the Pakistan Television, Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan International Airlines and other institutions, and they had even no regret for that.

Excessive political appointments, he added, were made in the said institutions during 2008 to 2018. On the contrary, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had so far appointed heads of 60 organizations, and none them on political grounds.

Prime Minister Imran Khan believed in merit and transparency, and that was why all appointments today were being made in line with his vision, he said.

The minister invited the opposition to join hands with the government for judicial and electoral reforms, instead of using the Parliament to get relief in the cases against their leaders including Nawaz Sharif, Maryum Nawaz, Khursheed Shah, Asif Zardari and Faryal Talpur etc.

The minister said the PTI had emerged as the single federal party of the country while the PPP and PML-N were restricted to Sindh and Central Punjab respectively, and would would further squeeze to limited areas in the next general election.