Odisha train tragedy exposes how ill-equipped Modi's India is to deal with disasters

The Odisha train tragedy has exposed once again how ill-equipped Modi's India is to deal with disasters.

At least 288 people were killed and more than 1200 injured when a passenger train first hit a stationary cargo train and then went off the tracks and hit another passenger train in Balasore District in the eastern Indian state of Odisha on Friday.

Hours after the tragic train accident, rescue workers were seen throwing bodies of the victims in pickup vans and trolleys pulled by tractors like slaughtered animals.

Videos doing rounds on the internet show a local school was turned into a makeshift morgue with almost no facilities.

Is this Modi’s New India? Where in the world this barbarity can happen? Dead bodies of train accident victims in Odisha, India, are being loaded on a tractor trolley when Modi has two big Boeings for his travels! pic.twitter.com/uNqvK8RuQE

— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) June 4, 2023

At the state-run school, the main hall, prayer area and classrooms were full of bodies of the victims wrapped in white sheets. Social media users strongly criticised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for not even providing ambulances to transport bodies to morgues.

A country does not become great just because its Prime Minister changes clothes every hour. The country also needs to find some proper clothes to cover the dead bodies. Train accident in Odisha, India https://t.co/ZyHcuEc31D

— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) June 3, 2023

Amid the outrage, local officials told the media that unidentified bodies will be shifted to Odisha’s provincial capital Bhubaneswar, where they will be kept at morgues for medical students.

On Sunday, India’s Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “We have identified the cause of the accident and the people responsible for it.” He however said it was “not appropriate” to give details before a final investigation report comes out.