Nitish backtracks, from sabotage to a bridge collapse, in UP rail tragedy

Railway Board officials were prompt to blame Sunday’s derailment on sabotage. The initial report, emanating from the ministry’s Safety Directorate, had stated the bridge collapse as the prime facie cause, but subsequent reports blamed sabotage.

Nitish Kumar, claimed sources, pulled up officials who floated the sabotage theory. In his statement in the Lok Sabha, he made it a point to appreciate the role played by ‘‘local public, social and religious NGOs’’ in relief operations. People from the nearby madarsa were among the first to reach the accident site. The minister said that G.P. Garg, Commissioner of Railway Safety, Northern Circle, has reached the site and will commence a inquiry at Jaunpur on May 15. ‘‘It was convenient for officials to say it was sabotage. It saves them the bother of answering uncomfortable questions about neglect, maintenance failure and fixing responsibility. And the fact that the accident occurred in a Muslim dominated area helped them strengthen the theory,’’ a ministry official told The Indian Express.

Railway officials had tried to float the conspiracy theory even after the Gaisal accident in August 1999. The Brahmputra Mail and Awadh-Assam Express landed up on the same line, causing a head-on collision and killing 320 persons. Later, a judicial inquiry indicted neglect by officials.

According to sources, Railway authorities were sidestepping the issue of punishment and reward. ‘‘All senior officials who were suspended following the Gaisal accident were reinstated. The junior level functionaries took the rap. Unless the officials at the helm are held responsible, nothing will change,’’ said a Railway official.