Kolkata: Coming down heavily on the centre over the Odisha train accident, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday fired another salvo on the BJP-led NDA government. "The central government has been trying to cover up the truth," said Mamata while providing financial assistance to the next of kin of the deceased at a function held at Netaji Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.
Job letters and cheques were given to the dependents of those killed in the Odisha train accident. Further, the Bengal CM said, "I was thinking not to say anything about the issue at the event. But there was not any option. Efforts were on to cover up the truth. But let the truth come out. What led to the accident? Why so many people were killed?"
"It was the biggest ever accident. What will the CBI do in the matter? Everybody knows what the former J&K governor Satya Pal Malik had said about the Pulwama terror attack. Even today, all efforts are being made to hush up the matter. The actual cause of the accident was not investigated. Everything was wiped out before starting the probe. Now, there was no evidence left," said Mamata.
The chief minister said that 103 people from West Bengal were killed in the incident and 86 of them could be identified so far. She also said that 172 suffered major injuries while 635 had minor injuries. "There are attempts to suppress the reason behind the Balasore accident, while Delhi has sent the CBI to 14-16 municipalities," Banerjee said.
"You (BJP government) will not be able to suppress the truth. I want the truth to come out. Family members of those injured and killed in the accident also want to know the reason for the accident. The culprit behind it must face strict punishment," she said.
"I have visited Odisha twice in the last few days to provide support to injured train accident victims recuperating in various hospitals in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar," she added. The Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary goods train, derailing most of its coaches at 7 pm on June 2. A few of those toppled over the last few coaches of the Bengaluru-Howrah Express which was passing by at the same time. In all, 288 people died in the accident and more than 1,200 were injured.
