The official death toll from the rail crash in the eastern Indian state of Odisha on 2 June is 288, with 803 injured. We send condolences and solidarity to the victims and their loved ones.
We send our solidarity to India’s rail workers and their unions, engaged in a long struggle against the understaffing, cuts and privatisation that form the background to this disaster.
India has a long history of devastating rail collisions; this is far from the first one that has seen hundreds killed. Its infrastructure is crumbling. Two days after the Odisha crash a four-lane suspension bridge in the state of Bihar collapsed for the second time in fourteen months.
Despite its modernisation rhetoric, the far-right government in power under Narendra Modi since 2014 has worsened the situation.
Spectacular tragedies like this one occur in the context of vast numbers harmed in industrial accidents, through overwork, inadequate nutrition, lack of services and infrastructure, and poor social conditions.
As the UK and Indian governments seek a free trade agreement at the expense of working people in both countries, UK-India workers’ solidarity is needed. Rail workers, reaching out to learn and cooperate on the similar issues they face, can be an essential part of that.
