Trinamul Congress leader Mukul Roy took charge on Tuesday as railway minister, replacing party colleague Dinesh Trivedi, on a day when 15 people were killed and three others seriously injured as the Mathura-Kasganj Express rammed into an overcrowded jeep at an unmanned railway crossing near Hathras, Uttar Pradesh.
Mr Trivedi, who lost his job after raising passenger fares in last week’s Railway Budget, had been insistent on upgrading safety measures, particularly at the country’s 14,000-plus unmanned railway crossings.
Speculation is rife that Mr Roy, abiding by party boss Mamata Banerjee’s demand, will roll back the fare hike at least for lower classes of travel. Railway staff unions, however, warned on Tuesday they would go on an agitation if the minister rolled back fares.
Tuesday’s accident took place at an unmanned crossing near Maidu railway station at 7.19 am. The jeep had 20 people, travelling from Sathiya village in Sasni tehsil. Reports said one Munne Khan, 40, had committed suicide at Sathiya, and his family and others were taking the body to Hathras for postmortem.
Mr Roy, who was briefly MoS railways last year, had raised eyebrows when he had chosen to attend a Mamata Banerjee rally rather than visit the site of a major accident near Guwahati in July 2011. On Tuesday, he blamed the van driver for the Hathras accident, saying he had not stopped to check for an approaching train.