Convoluted details, green signal, loco pilot; It looks really strange

The railway is iron-fisted in its stance to pave the way for CBI to take up the investigation into the tragic Odisha train crash. The move to knock CBI doors turned inexorable after the officials found anomalies in the control room glitches which was the mainspring for the catastrophe. The railway safety commission conducted a preliminary investigation and found the lapse in the electronic interlocking system as the root cause of the disaster. However, the loco pilot of coromandel express revealed no such violation of the green signal which again brought many doubts concerning the incident. The doubts still run a carousel in many minds and it is simply a welcome move to bring CBI into it since the central agency can easily finagle ways to find the truth, unlike any normal investigation. Moreover, it is the need of the people and moreover, the families of the victims to learn the shrouded truth behind the tragedy.

The loco pilot's stance of not violating the green signal has been countered by some. For many, the red signal blinked moments before but the coromandel swiftly passed through it. The preliminary search found no lapses in the signal allocations. However, the coromandel crashing on a good train halted in a loop is still magic for many.

Meanwhile, the death count has kissed 300. Among these, many bodies are yet to be identified. The Odisha government has uploaded images of dead bodies to the official website for people to identify with ease. Still, the method is a forgotten one and the railway should work ways not just to emulate foreign countries in elite trains, but also other basics. The contact details of the passenger should henceforth be acquired for connecting families in any such emergencies.

For the opposition and congress, the disaster opened doors of political demagoguery. The call for railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s resignation blared all across the media. Irony of the appalling form since the same congress while in power had a far worse record handling the railway ministry compared to BJP. Vaishnaw is poles apart from the Congress regime in development and has brought serious gains for the department. However, it doesn't cleanse him from the responsibilities and there lie many flubs unnoticed.

There are still more than 3 lakh vacancies in railways that are yet to be answered. In a country of youngsters salivating over central government jobs, railways can turn a solace but something is stymieing it. The authorities should cut short the lax but work ways to select the qualified ones for the post rather than working deficient with staff.

On another note, a train receiving green signal from a station should not change the lines in forward movement but Coromandel did. Coromandel was an anomaly as the train entered a loop even after receiving a green signal. With all the convoluted details, it looks strange or there is something untold about the glitch in the green signal. Surmises may pile up in the coming days while the final say should be from central agencies, hopefully, CBI.