The blame game continuing between the railways and the Bihar government over the train disaster in Khagaria turned unseemly on Wednesday with chief minister Nitish Kumar criticising minister of state for railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for putting a part of the responsibility on the state government.
Kumar, himself a former railway minister, not only termed Chowdhury’s remarks as “highly irresponsible” but also called him a “fool”. Chaudhary’s remarks after his visit of the accident site of Dhamara Ghat in Khagaria district, where at least 28 Hindu pilgrims were mowed down by a speeding train on Monday, made Mr Kumar see red because the latter had asserted soon after the accident that there was no lapse on part of the state government.
“His (Chowdhury’s) statements, which have appeared in newspapers, appear highly irresponsible,” said Kumar to reporters. “I can say that he has made a fool of himself by giving such statements,” he added.
Mr Chowdhury, after returning from a visit of Dhamara Ghat, on Tuesday said the state government failed to alert the railways about the possibility of such large numbers of pilgrims in trains and at stations on that day and the absence of a proper road leading to the station led to the deaths.
of such a large number of people in the accident.
Bihar’s ruling JD(U) leaders said Mr Chowdhury’s sarcastic comments about the lack of road were “unwarranted and in bad taste”. The MoS of Railways had said that the state government could have used the hefty funds it received from the Centre under the Prime Minister Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) road construction scheme to build a road to the tiny temple town at Dhamara Ghat.