Beyond photo-ops: Ashwini Vaishaw's tireless work since accident

The tragic train accident in Odisha’s Balasore has left at least 275 people dead and 1,175 injured.While railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has taken fire from the Opposition and some quarters on social media, many others have come to his defence to note how he has been working tirelessly since the crash.Let’s take a closer look:According to News18, Vaishnaw had only just reached Goa from Delhi by plane to flag off the Vande Bharat Express on Friday when he was alerted about the incident.Vaishnaw and his team immediately returned to Delhi.Since a flight to Odisha was unavailable till 4 am, Vaishnaw decided to supervise the rescue operation from Delhi airport itself.At 3 am, Vaishnaw managed to board a chartered plane.Once he reached the accident spot, Vaishnaw took charge – directing relief efforts and ordering a probe led by the railway safety commissioner.Vaishnaw then gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi a guided tour of the accident site and the hospital after which he returned to the spot.Vaishnaw clarified that the Coromandel Express had derailed and slammed into the stationary goods train and then the Bengaluru-Howrah Yesvantpur Express.Vaishnaw then declared that one ‘down line’ railway track would be operational within half a day.He then ordered officials to work in turns so that they got rest and finally took a break late in the evening at the insistence of his team.Vaishnaw only left the site at midnight, following which he discussed strategy with his Cabinet colleague Dharmendra Pradhan.On Sunday, Vaishnaw had returned to the spot by 7 am.At 10.40 pm, just two days after the crash, the first train left the affected section.“Down-line restoration complete. First train movement in section," he tweeted.According to Livemint, Vaishnaw was seen praying as train services were restored.Less than two hours later, the up line was also back in service with an empty goods train on the tracks.“Three trains have left from the section (two down and one up) and we have planned to run around seven tonight. We have to take this entire section towards normalisation," Vaishnaw added, as per News18.Vaishnav then got emotional speaking about the accident:Responding to the Opposition's calls for his resignation and Mamata Banerjee disputing the official toll, Vaishnaw on Saturday said, "We want full transparency, this is not the time to do politics, this is the time to focus on making sure that restoration happens at the earliest."About VaishnawVaishnaw in 2021 was allotted the Railways and IT portfolios following a Cabinet reshuffle.He took charge of the railway ministry from Piyush Goyal.A former IAS officer in Odisha cadre, Ashwini served as the Collector of Balasore and Cuttack. His bureaucratic acumen came to the fore when the super cyclone hit Odisha in 1999, killing at least 10,000 people.As a collector of the coastal Balasore district, Vaishnaw collected information on the cyclone from a US Navy website and sent reports to the chief secretary at regular intervals. His information helped the state government to take advanced measures in order to save lives. He worked in the administrative services in Odisha till 2003.He later joined former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s office as the deputy secretary. He was also appointed as Vajpayee's private secretary after the NDA lost the election in 2004. He quit government service in 2008 to pursue higher studies.An MBA and MTech graduate, he is an alumnus of the IIT Kanpur and Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. On completing his MBA, Vaishnaw quit the IAS in 2010 and joined GE Transportation as Managing Director. Then he joined Siemens as the Vice President, Locomotives & Head, Urban Infrastructure Strategy.In 2012, he set up Three Tee Auto Logistics Private Ltd and Vee Gee Auto Components Private Ltd, which were automotive components manufacturing units in Gujarat.He handled important responsibilities for over 15 years and was particularly known for his contribution to the public-private partnership (PPP) framework in infrastructure.With inputs from agenciesRead all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.