Oppn vs Ashwini Vaishnaw: 68% drop in train accidents, says Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, facing Opposition criticism over the many recent railway accidents, claimed in Parliament on Thursday that there was a 68% reduction in train accidents during the last 10 years of the Modi government compared to the 171 train mishaps during the UPA government of 2004-14. The minister said that compared to the 4.11 lakh railway job recruitments during the UPA period, the Modi regime has made over five lakh railway recruitments with another 40,000 vacancies now advertised for filling up.

Towards the end of his reply in the Lok Sabha to the debate on the Demand for Grants, which was passed later, Vishnaw also got embroiled in an Opposition protest and walkout after his verbal outburst against Opposition MP Hanuman Baniwal. When Baniwal tried to counter Vaishnaw's argument, the minister told the former that he was only interested in making reels. Angry Opposition MPs of all parties trooped to the Well of the House, raised slogans against the minister and staged a walkout.

With railway safety concerns having repeatedly figured in the speeches of various Opposition MPs during the previous days, the minister made it a point to take the fight to the Opposition court. He insisted that the Modi government introduced enhanced railway safety measures, including the Automatic Train-Protection system, and charged the previous Congress regimes of neglecting safety issues.