New Delhi: A week after it first transferred a top official following the Balasore tragedy, the railways ministry has now moved five more officials out of their posts at the South Eastern Railway (SER) zone.
Although there is speculation that these are part of the fallout resulting from the June 2 train crash that killed 292 people and injured over 900 others, the railways has insisted the transfers are “routine”, news agency PTI reported.
The latest officials to be transferred out of the SER were its principal chief safety officer Chandan Adhikary, principal chief signal and telecommunications engineer P.M. Sikdar, principal chief security commissioner D.B. Kasar, principal chief commercial manager Md. Owais and Kharagpur Divisional Railway Manager Shujat Hashmi.
Ministry orders mentioned no reason for their transfer, the Times of India reported.
Railways sources also told TOI that more officials will be transferred in the near future.
Also Read: Railway Board Warned Top Officials Against ‘Short-Cut Methods’ 2 Months Before Balasore Tragedy
Almost two weeks after the train crash occurred, the railways ministry on Thursday, June 15 transferred the SER’s additional general manager Atulya Sinha to the post of principal chief mechanical engineer at the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works in West Bengal.
Even then, the railways claimed that the transfer was “routine and not a downgrade”, TOI reported.
The Hindu reported that the railways ministry had also started filling safety category vacancies through promotions.
Currently, the Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the reasons behind the train crash, a move that some say is surprising given that the railways’ statutory investigative body hadn’t even finished its first round of hearings when the bureau took over.