CRB gets 5-yr term at CAT on day of Jharkhand rail mishap
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Rail CEO gets CAT appointment amid train mishap spree
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, July 30: The chairman and the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Railway Board Jaya Verma Sinha has been appointed member of the Central Appellate Tribunal (CAT). Verma’s appointment came on a day when Howrah-Mumbai CST Express derailed near Chakradharpur in Jharkhand.
Verma is the first woman to head the Railway Board. She is also the CEO of the Railway Board. The post of the CEO was created to curb the mindset of silos in the Railways.
“Verma is retiring from the Railways tomorrow. The members in the CAT are appointed from among the serving officials only,” said a senior railway Board observer.
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Verma will get a five-year tenure in the CAT as a member. The posting in the CAT for Verma has come a day before her retirement.
Under the watch of Verma, the railways witnessed a series of rail mishaps. In Balasore, the triple train mishap accounted for a toll of 297 passengers. Last year, three trains were involved in a major collision due to the signal failure in Balasore in Odisha.
After the Balasore rail mishap, there has been a series of incidents of derailment of trains all across the country. Train derailments in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and elsewhere brought heat to the incumbent Union Minister for Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw.
“Another disastrous rail accident! Howrah- Mumbai mail derails in Chakradharpur division in Jharkhand today early morning, multiple deaths and huge number of injuries are the tragic consequences,” west Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
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She further asked, “I seriously ask: is this governance? This series of nightmares almost every week, this unending procession of deaths and injuries on railway tracks: for how long shall we tolerate this?”
The West Bengal chief minister also wondered, “Will there be no end to the callousness of Government of India?” Banerjee had been Union Minister for Railways.
While the Opposition is asking for accountability for the rail mishaps, the executive head of the national transporter is seen being rewarded by the government with a five-year tenure in CAT.
It is worth noting that the loco pilots were blamed for some of the train mishaps in the past. The railway observers note that the officials in the Railway Board seldom take responsibility for the mishaps.
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