New Delhi: The Congress on Friday dubbed the Mumbai station stampede as a "man-made disaster" and demanded a judicial probe by a sitting judge while asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise to the people of the city.
The main opposition party also accused the railways of "criminal negligence" which led to a "manslaughter".
As Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, vice president Rahul Gandhi and Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad condoled the deaths, the party asked the PM to give "real solutions" to the Railway Ministry instead of just changing ministers.
Piyush Goyal recently took over as railway minister after Suresh Prabhu resigned following a string of accidents.
The party also sought enhanced compensation of Rs 50 lakh and a railway job to the next of kin of the deceased.
A compensation of Rs 10 lakh was announced-- Rs 5 lakh from Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Rs 5 lakh from Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Sonia Gandhi said such "man-made" disasters could have been avoided by proper planning and concern for safety. In a statement, she expressed hope that a proper inquiry would be conducted to fix responsibility for the tragedy in which 22 people were killed. She also wished an early recovery to the injured.
"Terming the tragedy as a man-made disaster, Sonia Gandhi said that such accidents could have been avoided had there been proper planning and concern for safety," said a statement issued by the Congress.
Rahul also expressed pain over the accident. "Deeply pained to know about the tragic stampede at #Elphinstone station. My thoughts with the families of the victims," he tweeted.
Sonia asked party workers to help in providing assistance to the bereaved families, the statement said.
Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev said the tragedy has shaken the conscience of the nation as it exposes the lacunae in the rail safety infrastructure. Angry Mumbaikars are questioning BJP Government's "incapability" to provide additional railway infrastructure to the city, she said.
The Congress leader said while Goyal is on a 'name-changing', 'ribbon-cutting' spree, people are anguished and demanding answers.
"It is almost a criminal negligence leading to manslaughter," she said, adding that a person had tweeted
sometime ago about the state of the overbridge but the Railways did not take any action.
Dev accused the prime minister of a "huge dereliction of duty" by not according top priority to Railway safety.
"We demand an impartial judicial enquiry by a sitting judge in the entire accident," she said.
"The Prime Minister should apologise to the people of Mumbai for absolutely no infrastructure development in the city in the last 3 years," she said.
"PM Modi should give real solutions to the Railway Ministry rather than changing rail ministers."
Dev also said there should be a safety audit of all foot overbridges, platforms and overhead bridges of the entire Mumbai Suburban Railway System and the report should be presented in the Parliament.
The recommendations of the Bibek Debroy and Anil Kakodkar Committee on Railway Safety be implemented, she said.
The Modi Government, she alleged, has "misplaced" priorities. Instead of spending money on bullet trains, it is high time this money is spent on improving basic infrastructure, she said.
"You are a complete failure on good governance and at the cost of repeating I will tell the Prime Minister whether he will now remove Goyal," she asked. She also raised the issue of the merger of Railway budget with general budget and said the BJP government is diminishing the status of railways and endangering lives of common people.
She said 259 passengers were killed, 973 injured in 29 major rail accidents since the Modi government assumed office. India has led the world in rail accidents by recording the maximum number of causalities and accidents in 2016, she said.
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