Charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, evidence destruction, and providing false information to shield the guilty are brought against the Senior Section Engineer In-Charge (Signalling), Senior Section Engineer, and a technician.
Source: News 18
The tragedy was caused mostly by incorrect signals and failures at several levels, according to a high-level railway investigation. Additionally, it showed that if prior warning signs had been heeded and remedial action taken, the tragedy may have been avoided.
To improve safety measures and prevent such accidents, the Commissioner of Railway Safety has suggested a 14-point action plan. The most important things are to make the network’s signalling and technological backbone stronger and to conduct more thorough inspections before beginning any repair or overhaul work. All government agencies tasked with maintaining public safety should adopt the recommendation to provide competency certificates to qualified personnel.
Source: India Today
The right course of action is to fix responsibility for the Balasore disaster, but it is crucial to acknowledge and address systemic flaws. Nearly one-third of the train accidents in 2021u20132022 caused by equipment failure were linked to the signalling system.
Urgent action is required due to the poor rate of infrastructure improvement and problems with staffing. The habit of using illegal shortcuts to meet deadlines and the propensity to pass the buck from one department to another highlight the necessity of an independent safety regulator.
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