HYDERABAD: Former Minister of State for Railways and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary B. Dattatreya has demanded a high-level enquiry into the Repalle-Secunderabad Delta Fast Passenger train accident as he feels that it could have been averted had the police provided information to railway authorities.

Mr. Dattatreya, who visited the accident spot in the afternoon, said his information was that the police knew at 12.30 a.m. on Saturday about the breach of the Yellanki and Gollapalli tanks close to the Ramasamudram reservoir because of heavy rain.

He faulted the police for failing to pass on the information to the railway authorities.

If the authorities were given timely warning about the impending disaster, they could have stopped the Delta Passenger and averted the accident.

The former minister urged the Government to strengthen the bunds of all tanks across the State because they could have weakened following heavy rains during the last two months.

Mr. Dattatreya said that he was second time lucky to survive a railway accident as he was travelling by Narsapur Express from Guntur to Hyderabad. He said the train was stopped and the Delta Passenger allowed to pass, as it was already late by one-and-a-half hours.

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