West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday put the updated death figure of persons from the state following the terrible train accident at Bahanaga railway station in Odisha's Balasore districtAon Friday evening at 62.
"A total of 182 bodies are yet to be identified. We have circulated the photos in all the districts. The death count from the state might increase after the identification process is over," she told newspersons at a hurriedly convened press conference here.
She expressed doubts if the names of those travelling in unreserved compartments are readily available with the Railways. "That list is yet to reach the state government. So in due course the casualty figure from Bengal might rise," she said.
Banerjee also alleged that it seems that the Union government is trying to fudge the actual casualty figure. "In our calculation while the casualty figure is increasing, the Union government claims it to be decreasing. And now BJP has started a new political game by projecting the death figures in railway accidents when Nitish Kumar or Lalu Prasad Yadav or me were the Railways Minister," she said.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leadership has claimed that the recommendation of the Railways Board for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation on the Balasore train accident might be another ploy to hush up the real reasons behind the tragedy.
"The credibility of central agencies like CBI is so low now as they are being used as tools against the opposition parties by the Union government. So we are having no faith in the CBI probe," a party leader said.
BJP state President Sukanta Majumdar, however, said that since there are doubts of sabotage behind the accident, a necessity has arisen for a central agency probe in the matter.