Citizens suffer daily due to neglect of safety of trains: TMC's Sagarika Ghose
New Delhi (PTI): Trinamool Congress leader Sagarika Ghose on Tuesday slammed the government over a train derailment in Jharkhand that claimed two lives, saying citizens suffer every day because of neglect of basic safety of trains.
In a post on X, she said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is only a "part-time rail minister" and is busy with election management for the BJP in poll-bound states.
Two persons were killed and 20 injured as at least 18 coaches of the Howrah-Mumbai Mail derailed in Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharsawan district in the early hours of Tuesday, officials said.
In a dig at the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Ghose said, "How many more train accidents will it take for the National Disaster Alliance government to wake up?"
"Where is the Rail Minister? Ashwini Vaishnaw is only a part-time rail minister, busy handling BJP's election management in assembly poll-bound states, while safety of passengers is being shockingly compromised every day," she said.
"Modi only wants to flag off trains in photo ops while citizens suffer daily because of neglect of basic safety on trains. Shameful lack of basic accountability on the part of Modi government," the TMC leader said.
"How many more train accidents will it take for the Modi Government to wake up from its slumber?"
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) July 30, 2024
– Smt. @sagarikaghose
Part-time Railway Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw is too busy looking after @BJP4India's election management in Assembly poll-bound states to bother about the safety… pic.twitter.com/JnYUsRDU98
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
