Sainthia Train Disaster

Gag order on Uttar Banga Express guard

20 July 2010

Manas Bannerjee

SILIGURI, 20 JULY: The guard of the Uttar Banga Express, Mr Somnath Sengupta, who now seems to be the only person who can enlighten the probe committee in connection with the Sainthia train disaster, reached Howrah accompanied by railway officials this morning. He was taken under railway custody at Bandel station yesterday.

Asked to keep silent over the accident, Mr Sengupta, posted in Malda railway division in Eastern Railway, was allowed to speak to his family members over phone only last night, more than 12 hours after the incident.

Still in the grip of trauma, Mr Sengupta speaking to The Statesman over phone said: "I am now being taken to Howrah for deposition. I will speak only to the railway officials in charge of the probe. I have been instructed not to say anything about the accident except to the probe committee,” he said. “I am recovering now. I was injured when the Uttar Banga Express rammed into the stranded Vananchal Express. The pain has nearly disappeared following treatment,” he added.

The Malda divisional railway manager, Mr MK Mathur said that Mr Sengupta would depose before the Commissioner of Railway Safety for the next few days. "He told senior railway officials yesterday that he had used the emergency brake. The probe would confirm what actually happened to the ill-fated train. The inquiry team would check the records of the train speed from memory chips (window graphs) before the accident took place to verify his statement,” said Mr Mathur.

Bureaucratic Blunder-II

Parking row: WBIIDC has little to do

7 July 2010

Manas R Bannerjee

SILIGURI, 7 JULY: The West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation and the Jalpaiguri police having seemingly thrown in the towel regarding the illegal parking on the approach road leading to the Dabgram Industrial Growth Centre, a no-parking zone and along the National Highway-31 connecting Siliguri and Jalpaiguri, accidents have become almost a daily phenomenon to the despair of the entrepreneurs and the common people.     

And the most sordid part of the story is that though there is a Siliguri- Jalpaiguri Development Authority-owned Fulbari Truck Terminal near Dabgram Industrial Growth Centre, hundreds of heavily loaded lorries remain stranded on both sides of the ever-busy NH-31. 

Despair seems writ large on the face of the entrepreneurs when the matter has been broached to them. “We dreamt that the area around the centre upto Fulbari and beyond would have improved a lot in terms of transport and other development-related matters. But the reality is saddening, to say the least. The picture is truly precarious on the road front. Illegal parking from Haldia More to Hindustan More has turned a perennial problem. Getting access into the growth centre is becoming more and more like dampening encounters. This aside, the ambience in the surrounding areas keeps deteriorating fast with the women residing in the nearby housing estate feeling insecure to move out after the darkness descends,” said Mr Ajoy Kumar Agarwal, secretary of the Dabgram Industrial Growth Centre.  

The locals have told another tale which imparts a more gloomy touch to the sordid story. They alleged that that some youths affiliated with a political party kept extorting money from the lorry drivers in the area in lieu of ensuring ‘trouble-free’ parking along the road.  

Sounding distressed, the owner on lease of the Fulbari Truck Terminal, Mr Phani Bhushan Ghosh said that he had been incurring enormous loss. “The lorry drivers prefer to park vehicles on the roadside, turning into mockery the rule related to parking. And consequently, the terminal has turned a nightmarish venture for us. We have grown tired with appealing to the Bhaktinagar police station to come down heavily on the illegal parking. But the nonchalant response deepens our frustration,” he rued. Yet, pleading ignorance of the problem, the superintendent of police, Jalpaiguri, Mr Anand Kumar said that they had received no compliant on the matter. “But once complaint is lodged we would take steps to curb unauthorized parking,” he assured.

Bureaucratic Blunder-I

WBIIDC apathetic to upgradation of Dabgram industrial centre

6 July 2010

Manas R Bannerjee

SILIGURI, 6 JULY: The West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBIIDC) officials have not taken meaningful steps to upgrade the much-hyped Dabgram Industrial Growth Centre in Jalpaiguri, which started its career in the early nineties in sync with the industrial rejuvenation tempo hyped by the Left Front government in the state.    .

When asked to explain the inexplicable apathy, the officials cite the fund crunch. Yet, the explanation is far from satisfactory, for even the basic things required to develop an industrial complex like drinking water supply, sewerage, street lights keep eluding it for the past two decades. The entrepreneurs who got enthused by the flamboyantly drawn plan look a depressed lot now.  The senior officials of the industrial units and the members of the Dabgram Industrial Industries Association (DIIA) vent grievances against the protracted lethargy on the part of the WBIIDC mandarins. “Basic infrastructure for a decent living like sewerage, drinking water, street lights, a market complex are non- existent even after two decades have passed since the unit's inception,” they alleged in unison. “The road condition particularly during the height of the rainy season beggars description with gaping craters making it a perilous drive.  To aggravate the inconvenience, the illegal parking on both sides of the narrow WBIIDC -owned approach road has become a daily affair. It is a veritable hell-hole for us, the entrepreneurs and staffs associated with the several units,” they complained. 

The former president of DIIA, Mr Mohan Debnath slammed the WBIIDC authority, saying that it could not have cared less for the centre. “The condition of the main approach road in front of The Statesman office is awful. Everybody looks prone to passing the bucks instead of sparing thoughts to redress the accumulated grievances,” he said. 

However, what the WBIIDC officials said seems to a tangled web of hope and despair. The executive engineer, Mr DC Mandal said: “We had readied measurements for execution of drainage system, street lights and for the construction of roads. We have sent those measurements to our higher authorities in Kolkata one year ago, seeking funds. They assured that they were trying to manage funds from some other sources”.