Chief minister Mamata Banerjee lambasted the Indian Railways for its poor performance under the Narendra Modi government and demanded a job for the next-of-kin of each migrant worker killed when an under-construction railway bridge collapsed in Mizoram on Wednesday morning.
“Today, 35 people were killed while working at a site of an under-construction railway bridge in Mizoram and 24 out of them are from Bengal’s Malda. We again saw the poor performance of the railways. What we knew as Indian Railways is no more. It is now in a deplorable condition. Now they (the Narendra Modi government) even slashed the budget for the railways,” said Mamata at Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan here.
The workers from Malda had gone to Mizoram to work under a contractor for the railway bridge project.
“We will obviously help those bereaved families. Besides that, I demand a railway job for the next of kin of each worker who died in the mishap. You (railways) have to take responsibility for the people who died while working for you” she added.
Mamata recalled the June 2 railway accident in Odisha’s Balasore in which around 300 people were killed and at least 1,000 people were injured.
“Recently 300 people were killed in the tragic rail accident in Odisha. We (Bengal government) gave government jobs to each family of those from our state who lost their lives... and Rs 5 lakh as financial assistance, too. The railways can’t deny their responsibility,” Mamata said.
At least 103 people from Bengal died in the Odisha tragedy.
This time the Bengal government has made arrangements to bring the bodies of the state's migrant workers killed in Mizoram. A source said the government will pay Rs 2 lakh to each bereaved family. It will bear the cost of bringing the bodies to Bengal and the cremations.
Mamata has instructed Samirul Islam, the Rajya Sabha member who also chairs the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board, to reach Malda by Thursday morning to take care of the families of the migrant workers and stay with them till the cremations.
In order to sharpen her attack on the BJP, Mamata brought up the taunt Prime Minister Narendra Modi made after the Vivekananda Road flyover collapsed on March 31, 2016.
“When a bridge collapsed here (in Calcutta) and 26 people died, the Prime Minister did his best to mock us. Now 35 persons were killed while constructing a bridge, but there is no comment. The same thing happened in Gujarat (the Morbi bridge collapse in 2022). I don’t want to do politicos with such incidents, because an accident happens,” Mamata added.
On April 7, 2016, Modi had accused chief minister Mamata Banerjee of corruption, during a campaign rally for the BJP in north Bengal’s Birpara, and mocked her for trying to “shamelessly” blame the erstwhile Left regime for the flaws in the under-construction flyover.
“Such a huge bridge collapsed, what did these people say? They said, it is but an act of god. Didi (Mamata), this was not an act of god, but an act of fraud, fraud,” Modi had said.
The chief minister on Wedmesday again appealed to the migrant workers not to go to other states and stay in Bengal as the state government launched several schemes and scope for jobs here.
“Please don’t go outside. I request you all (who migrated) to return here. You take the subsidised loan (if the Bengal government) and open your own business here. We are also opening options to get work in different industries” said Mamata.
The state government will start the registration of migrant workers through the seventh edition of the Duare Sarkar camp which will start on September 1.
The chief minister also said that her government would also arrange insurance for the migrant workers and their families will get a good amount of money in case of the deaths of workers.