Sena targets Fadnavis govt over Raigad bus accident

The Shiv Sena, an ally of the ruling coalition, today criticised the Devendra Fadnavis-led government in Maharashtra for the death of 30 people in a bus accident in Raigad district.

It said the 'king' is responsible for the death of soldiers who don't take part in wars.

Development does not mean laying of "Japanese bullet train tracks", but averting such road accidents which kill people en masse, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.

It criticised the Centre for focusing on its ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, instead of repairing the railway's (existing) signalling system and tracks.

Thirty staff members of an agriculture university at Dapoli in Raigad were killed when their bus fell in a gorge at Ambenali Ghat near Poladpur town on Saturday, while they were going on a picnic to Mahabaleshwar in Satara district.

"An accident is an accident. The chief minister and other ministers expressed grief over the (Raigad) accident. But it is not good that the government is faced with such incidents daily," the Shiv Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

"...it is the king who is responsible for the death of soldiers who do not take part in wars and each unnatural death," it said.

Taking a jibe at the government over its proposed Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway project, the Shiv Sena said the state should understand that most people in Maharashtra travel by roads in difficult terrains.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party also asked the government when such accidents would stop happening.

Such incidents won't stop until the government focuses on improving its functioning, the way it devotes energy to win polls, the Sena added.