New Delhi-Home Minister P Chidambaram's office on Wednesday clarified that his remarks on the Sainthia railway accident were not not a criticism of the Railway ministry.
A statement issued by his office said one of the television channels was "mischievously" reporting the minister's statement as a criticism of the Railway ministry.
Some Left parties also seem to have deliberately misinterpreted the statement, it said adding "this statement is being issued to clarify the matter".
The statement referred to Chidambaram's speech at a meeting of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) here this morning in which he had referred to the time taken to despatch relief teams for rescue and relief operations following Monday's train accident.
Referring to the time taken by two of these teams to reach the accident site, the Minister said ways must be found to respond more quickly in case of a disaster. In that context, he suggested that NDMA should examine whether it can use helicopters and small aircraft. PTI
