Callous :
1. made hard; hardened.; 2. insensitive; indifferent; unsympathetic:
How does your kid commute to school … many of us
are not in a position to drop them to school…. Most make arrangements with
private autos; vans and cycle rickshaws….. and feel that they have done their
duty….. how many have cared to see the way their children commute in the
vehicle arranged….. many a parents would keep on making calls to their van
driver … just to know where the van is, whether their delay in
preparations could impact and whether their children is safely
travelling…….. all ‘without even thinking that they are imperilling their own
and other children travelling in that van’………..you see some small boyish driver
driving the van rashly ~ speaking on the mobile phone all the time !! and he
could well be answering your call….. duty does not stop
with that… after all you are paying for that van, can’t you care to check
whether the vehicle is properly maintained and whether it is being driven by a
person, who possess valid DL and is in a state of mind to drive it properly…..
???
In Dec 2012, in a gruesome accident that brought home the perils
of footboard travelling, four students were fatally caught between a speeding
city bus and a lorry on Rajiv Gandhi Salai.
Two of them were college students, while the other two were going to
school. The accident involving route number 519 deluxe bus took place around 8
a.m. close to Srinivasa Nagar 7th Main Road at Kandanchavadi. Chandan, an
eyewitness, said the lorry was taking a left turn next to his fruit juice shop
when the jam-packed bus was about to pass it.
That was not the first nor the last – but was
that an accident in a true sense – could it have been averted ? – why do people
are so risky putting forth their life in endanger !! – who is to be blamed –
and whoever the blame goes, there is no alleviation for the victim – is that
not known.
Chennai bursts at seams – you see maddening
crowds everywhere, almost throughout the day
- and commoners do suffer travelling in public transport. If buses are
crowded, trains are overcrowded. In an incident cruelly highlighting
the pitfalls of travel on crowded suburban trains, three men died after falling
off a train near Pazhavanthangal railway station yesterday morning. Four others were grievously injured.
All seven had been hanging on to the footboard of a packed coach of a
Chengalpet-Chennai Beach train.
representational photo ~ not the way people travel daily
A
high-level inquiry by the commissioner of Railway Safety would begin soon with
a visit to the spot, a Southern Railway source said. Around 9am, police and
railways officials said, the train had crossed Pazhavanthangal when the bag of
one man, later identified as Manikandan, a 22-year-old AC technician, got
entangled in a signal post on the tracks and he was dragged out. As he was
falling, he instinctively grabbed at A Praveen Raj, a welder, and both men plunged
down. They died instantly. Gory details and one shudders to think of the
situation, even as one reads such accidents.
Of the
others similarly dragged down one by one, Samuel Jebasingh, 23, died while
being taken to Chromepet General Hospital. K Gopinath, 29, M Manikandan, 20, S
Devaraj, 26, and J Madhusudhanan, 27, are being treated at Rajiv Gandhi
Government General Hospital.
Soon
after the incident, a team of Southern Railway officials conducted an
inspection to see if the signal post was too close to the tracks.“We found
there was nothing wrong from railways point of view. It has been classified as a T-1 accident, which
puts the onus on the passengers,“ a spokesman said.
~and
TOI has a caption – ‘ we have no options, says footboard travellers’ – what an
irony ! how pathetic – is this the end sought !! The report states that many
said if railways heeded suggestions to increase frequency of trains between
Chengleput to Beach, accident could have been averted. The inability of the railways to run more
frequent services is linked to the slow pace of capacity addition work on the
section. A third line between Tambaram and Chengalpet has been sanctioned, but
work is on at snail's pace. Even if it is completed, railways cannot increase
suburban services as a fourth line is required. For the latter, Railway Board
is not giving sanction as it wants the Tamil Nadu government to contribute
equally to the capital expenditure. Trains from Chennai to Tambaram are
available once every 10 minutes, but the same is not true for locations between
Tambaram and Chengalpet. Between 9am and noon, there is only one train every 30
to 40 minutes. These stop at all intermediate stations and there are only two fast
services from Chingleput.
“It is
inevitable that we have to travel on the footboard, often dangling dangerously.
People take the risk as the next train is available after 30 minutes and is
slower,“ a regular is quoted as telling
Times of India. Though not the one travelling by the train and hence may not understand
the practical difficulties that is being putforth, I tend to totally disagree.
As Senior Government Railway
Police officers say missing a train is better than putting one's life at risk.
“GRP and Railway Protection Force (RPF) has organised awareness programmes to
educate people on avoiding footboard travel. It is a punishable offence under
Railways Act,“ a senior official said. Asked about steps taken to check
footboard travel, an RPF official said, “Since many colleges fall on this
stretch, students are regular footboard travelers. We conduct regular checks
during peak hours and make sure they don't travel on footboards.’ According to
RPF data, the Chennai Beach-Tambaram route is considered dangerous for
footboard travellers. Thirteen people died and 40 were injured during 2015-16
on the route.
Personnel from the Railway Police Force
had a tough time pushing back the crowd that thronged the accident site to
catch a glimpse of the bodies. But for residents of Thiruvalluvar Nagar and
Jeevan Nagar located on either side of the tracks, the deaths are nothing new.
They are familiar with the screams and shudders born out of urban helplessness. – does it not agitate
your mind and heart to read this para – how can deaths be so normal ! – and who
is callous here – is it the commoner who willingly or otherwise forced as they
would like to be called putting their life to danger, lack of care by
authorities – traveller getting by post is not new (if so, can they not be put
at a little more distance !); the Govt local and Central, which have time for
all squabbles, but not for transportation and other facilities; again the
people, who agitate for some pettythings but carry on as if nothing is hindered
in what should happen in their own interests.
I really do not have an answer, but am feeling sad – lives lost, some
hit headlines, they sound not even anguished – the next day, same things would
continue, as if nothing untoward had happened.
Sad,
indeed !!
With sorrow
– S. Sampathkumar
24th
Feb 2017.
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