It's no surprise that Justice G.N. Ray’s report on the Gaisal train collision — which killed 320 people in Assam in August 1999 — is still to see the light of day.In his report, the retired judge has expressed ‘‘pain and anguish’’ at railway officials not speaking the truth during the inquiry and also said they tried their best to make the negligence of the staff appear as a larger conspiracy. The Awadh Assam Express had collided head-on with Brahmaputra Mail near Gaisal in Assam after both had travelled on the same track for over 20 minutes. According to Ray, the conspiracy theory in the incident was ‘‘too far-fetched’’ and the accident was more a sequential failure. He had fixed responsibility on 35 officials — 17 held primarily responsible, eight secondarily and 10 blameworthy.The Railway stand came to light in the Action Taken Report (ATR) tabled in the Lok Sabha last week, along with the complete 176-page inquiry report of Justice Ray. The ATR report — though claiming to accept the inquiry’s conclusion on responsibility for the accident — failed to mention what action had been taken against the guilty officials.Advising that ‘‘honesty could be the best policy for the Railways’’, Ray gave details of how officials had tried to mislead the judicial commission. ‘‘Whenever possible, they feigned ignorance, confusion, unawareness or unconsciousness’’, said Justice Ray.If they could not resort to any of the above mentioned ‘‘ploys’’, they made statements which were convenient though ‘‘may not be true’’, he added. In other cases, Ray said, they spoke half truths, or if compelled to speak the truth, ‘‘they either contradicted it in a later statement, or hedged with the plea that they were illiterate and therefore (what they agreed to was) not clear etc’’. Incidentally Nitish Kumar, who had resigned as Railway Minister owning moral responsibility following the Gaisal accident, is also singing a new tune in his second term.Now he expresses his inability to implement some of the recommendations of the report pertaining to changes in the administrative set-up. And as regards to those which require operational improvement for enhancing safety, he states the implementation is ‘‘subject to availability of funds’’. Justice Ray had also found the behaviour of the staff — including assistant station masters (ASMs) and station master of Gaisal station — ‘‘disgusting’’. Nobody spared a thought for the trapped passengers, he wrote, everyone deserted the accident site. The ASM on duty ran away soon after the collision, claiming it was a bomb blast.The cabin man ran to the station master’s house to inform him, Justice Ray recounted. The station master sent the off-duty ASM to check, who confirmed it was a collision as both trains were on one line. The station master, instead of rushing to the site, went to the police station to seek protection. He feared that he would be beaten up if he went to the station.What Justice Ray found most unbelievable was how everybody misled the zonal headquarters — and consequently the railway board in Delhi — by repeatedly claiming it was a bomb blast. This also delayed relief operations, he said. As regards to recommendations on expediting track circuiting, installing Automatic Warning System, mobile radio communication, track renewal and replacing outdated signalling system, the ministry accepted them, but with a rider — subject to availability of funds.The one recommendation on which the Railways gave a detailed report is on special incentives to personnel posted in the Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway, in the north-eastern region of the country. Justice Ray, comparing a posting in NF Railway to that of an army jawan to border areas, suggested that the officials be given special amenities.
