Mumbai leads list of 15,000 dead every year on tracks

New Delhi: Voicing serious safety concerns over encroachments along rail tracks and trespassing which claim nearly 15,000 lives every year, a high-level railway panel suggested amendments to existing acts and setting up of a task force in Mumbai where such deaths are highest. “No civilised society can accept such massacre on their own railway system,” the Anil Kakodar-led safety committee said and suggested amendments in the Public Premises Eviction Act and the Railway Act by which encroachers would be severely penalised.[caption id=“attachment_219099” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Short cut to the other side or death? Reuters”] [/caption] “The committee was informed that a large number of accidents takes place due to unlawful trespassing. The estimation is almost 15,000 persons get killed every year in such a manner in the entire railway system of which about 6,000 death are only in Mumbai suburban section.” It made these suggestions while taking into account the problems faced while removing enrichment due to political interference. Terming as “massacre”, the huge number of deaths especially in the Mumbai section, the committee said that reluctance of Indian Railways to own these casualties, which do not fall under the purview of train accidents but are nevertheless accidents on account of trains can by no means be ignored. It said the “grim system on Mumbai suburban sysem has to be tackled on a different war footing where trespassing takes places mostly on account of lack of barricading, fencing, absence of adequate number of pedestrian overbridges and reluctance to replace pedestrian level. Seeking action against encroachers, the committee said, “Public Premises Eviction Act should be suitably amended so that eviction of encroachers is easily possible with the help of local police and railway protection force. Suitable amendment in the Railway Act should also be made by which encroachers should be severely penalised.” The high-level safety committee observed lack of passenger facilities such as sufficient number of platforms, narrow platforms, escalators and elevators for physically challenged and insufficient train services are the main reason for such a heavy human toll on the Mumbai suburban system. “This is clearly the responsibility of railways and railways cannot have the excuse that urban transport is not their responsibility,” the committee said. The committee therefore strongly recommends that a high level task force involving state government, zonal rail users committee and NGOs is set up to recommend constructive measures which will alleviate or eliminate this problem in the near future. Noting that a vast section of Indian Railways is prone to outside interference, the committee had first hand experience of large-scale encroachment very near rail tracks in Delhi area. “Overhead electric wire (OHE) masts were seen almost inside the houses at some location and large population were seen squatting on the rail tracks,” it said. It is understood the removal of encroachment was not possible due to political interference associated with relocation of affected population. It has recommended to address this issue at the political level to ensure removal of all such encroachments in the vicinity of rail tracks in the interest of safety. PTI