Mumbai's death trap: 10 railway commuters die per

Published on 06-20-2010 

An outpouring of anger and passion has greeted the conviction of seven former Union Carbide officials for negligence in the Bhopal gas disaster. This caused the immediate death of 3,787 people, and the ultimate death of 15,000 to 20,000 people whose lungs were corroded by the gas.

If this anger and passion results in greater safety and accountability, India will be a more humane and just country. The chances of this happening are zero. India remains basically callous and unaccountable. Tragedies greater than Bhopal are constantly ignored and dismissed as “chalta hai.”

Consider Mumbai’s suburban rail services. Activist Chetan Kothari used the Right to Information Act to get data on people killed in Mumbai by the Central and Western Railway, which run through the city. Answer: 20,706 people have been killed in the last five years. This is six times as high as Bhopal’s 3,787 immediate fatalities and higher than even the long-term fatalities estimated at 15,000-20,000.

On average, over 10 people die every day! If Maoists or Islamist terrorists kill 10 people, that is regarded as sensational news. But if the Mumbai rail system kills the same number every day, it is not even considered news. The information obtained by Kothari pertains to just five years, and to just one tiny part of the railways.

Fatalities across the railways for the last two decades could run into lakhs or the equivalent of five or six Bhopals. A similar RTI exercise is needed for people killed by state electricity boards through uninsulated, loose and dangling electric wires.

One estimate of accidental electrocution deaths in the 1980s was more than 3,000 per year. It is probably higher today. Again, this amounts to several Bhopals over the years. Here again we see no public outrage, only “chalta hai”.

The Times, the British newspaper, used the RTI to get a break-up of Mumbai fatalities. In 2008, 3,443 out of 4,357 fatalities occurred when trains mowed down people crossing the tracks. As many as 853 fell off or were thrown off moving trains. Another 41 were hit by trackside poles while hanging out of doors, and 21 were electrocuted by overhead wires while travelling on the roof.

Cynics will say this is different from Bhopal: those crossing the tracksand riding on roofs were breaking safety regulations and exposing themselves to danger. But in Bhopal too, the Union Carbide plant was located outside the town, and illegal shanty-towns came up around it, violating safety and urban laws. Does that lessen criticism of the gas leak?

Union Carbide was lambasted for not using the best technology available to avert risks and deaths. But do we castigate the railways for not investing in the best safety technologies, and creating barriers to stop people from crossing the tracks? Union Carbide was slated for negligence in a shutdown plant. But the railways continue to be negligent year after year in a running organization that runs down people.

Many of us howled for justice after Bhopal. Many demanded the arrest of Union Carbide chief Anderson. Those convicted last week included Keshub Mahindra, the non-executive chairman with a largely ceremonial position. How many of us have demanded even thedismissal, let alone conviction, of the railway staff, Railway Board members or railway minister for the continuing holocaust in Mumbai? The non-executive head of the railways is, formally, the President of India. Has anybody demanded that Pratibha Patil be prosecuted for continuing railway deaths?

Alas no. The public displays not the slightest concern about our dismal tradition of having unaccountable and unsackable government cadres, who remain in their jobs and get promotions despite the most outrageous negligence.

Let me cite a recent PTI report.

“Negligence by railway staff caused nearly half of all train accidents in the country during the last five years, official data has revealed. Of the 1,034 train accidents that have happened during the period 2003-2008, 488 of them, which accounts for 47.2 per cent, have been attributed to negligence by the railway staff, joint director of the safety directorate of the ministry of railways J S Bindra said in reply to an RTI application.”

There you have it, from the horse’s mouth. Yet none of those yelling for the blood of Union Carbide staff are yelling for the blood of railway officials. And so railway negligence and deaths continue unabated.

NGOs and the media suffer from a terrible double standard. They will pounce on negligence by a multinational, and rightly so. But they act as though the public sector has a licence to kill. That is disgraceful.

Rail accident payout system skewed: RTI

Compensation For ‘Untoward Incidents’ Five Times That For Injury & Death

Anil Singh | TNN 

Mumbai: While train accidents grab headlines, the bigger headache for Indian Railways is untoward incidents which encompass a whole range of things from terror strikes to passengers accidentally falling off trains.

    The amount paid by the Railways as compensation for ‘untoward incidents’ is five times that for compensation towards death and injury because of accidents, show figures retrieved under the right to information.

    Over the past 15 years, the Railways have paid Rs 74.5 crore as compensation for death and injury in train accidents. This means an average of Rs 5 crore a year, which is the cost of an electric engine.

    The compensation for ‘untoward incidents’ over the same period is Rs 367 crore, or an average of Rs 24.5 crore a year. This would more than suffice for a 12-car Mumbai local train, which costs Rs 20 crore.

    However, observers such as Samir Zaveri, who filed a PIL in the Bombay high court to ensure prompt medical aid to railway accident victims, say Rs 74.5 crore over a period of 15 years is a paltry sum given the fact that Indian Railways carry 18 million passengers a day, which is four million more than the population of Mumbai.

    “Many victims are ignorant about compensation and the railways do little to publicise this fact or to provide them the promised free legal aid to file a compensation claim with the Railway Claims Tribunal,’’ he said. Zaveri also says that many victims are put off by the stories of delay in the tribunal.

    The compensation for death is Rs 4 lakh. Loss of limbs, blindness, deafness and very severe facial disfigurement also entail a compensation of Rs 4 lakh.

    If one presumes that all the Rs 74.5 crore paid as compensation for death and injuries over the past 15 years was only for deaths, this would translate into 1,864 fatalities. And if one were to take an annual average, it would amount to 124 fatalities a year all over India. This does not square up with the fact that in Mumbai alone an average of four commuters are either run over or die after falling off trains.

    Chetan Kothari, who got the data about compensation through the RTI, says it is difficult to believe that the Indian Railways whose route length is one-anda-half times the length of the equator, spends an average of only Rs 8 crore a year on compensation for deaths and injuries in train accidents. “Just the other day, minister of state for railways K H Muniyappa said that one or two accidents a week are nothing unusual in such a large network,’’ he said.

    Other than terror strikes to passengers falling off trains, untoward incidents under the Railway Accidents and Untoward Incidents (Compensation) Amendment Rules, 1997, also includes robberies, dacoities, rioting, arson and attacks.

Ambulance used just four times in 20 years

Ambulance has been lying idle at Churchgate station for two decades, reveals RTI query; it has not ferried a single accident victim

On June 16, Suresh Jadhav slipped outside the toilet at Churchgate station and suffered serious head injuries. Instead of rushing him to hospital, railway authorities wasted about an hour before ferrying him to Bombay Hospital by cab. 


Sitting idle: The GM Building at Churchgate where the ambulance was 
kept. The vehicle was used only four times in the last 20 years, but not 
for those injured in the tracks

Suresh did not survive.

He had not been brought to the hospital in time, doctors said. 

Why was Jadhav not rushed to hospital immediately, asks his family. And the same question is raised by the kith and kin of 664 other commuters who lost their lives in the last eight years on Mumbai's deadly tracks between Churchgate and Charni Road. 

The answer is shocking. At Churchgate station, which is used by 5.5 lakh to 6 lakhcommuters every day, not once in the last 20 years has an ambulance been used to ferry victims of railway accidents. This has been thrown up in a reply to an RTI query.

According to the RTI reply, the ambulance has been used four times in the last 20 years, but not for those injured on the tracks or at stations. "The ambulance has been used thrice in 2006 and only once in 2007," states the reply. 

Does it come as any further shock then that in the last eight years (2002 to 2009), there were 735 people injured in accidents between Churchgate and Charni Road stations? This, as per records of the Mumbai railway police. 

"Thousands have died only because they did not receive treatment on time and because the railway authorities did not take the pain to use the ambulance. Blame the ignorant railway authorities for their deaths. Criminal proceedings should be initiated to bring such officials to task," said Sameer Zaveri, an RTI activist, who filed the application.

Taxis only
Those posted at Churchgate station agree that the railways are apathetic while dealing with medical emergencies. "Every month, there are around three to four cases where victims need to be shifted to hospitals, but the ambulance has never been used," said a Government Railway Police (GRP) officer, stationed at Churchgate. "Depending upon the emergency, victims are rushed to the nearest hospital in private cars or taxis. The authorities fail to understand that with an ambulance you can dodge traffic and save time." 

Though this ambulance has never been used to ferry victims to hospitals over two decades, it is not clear if the vehicle has ever been replaced. 

A senior Railway official, who is posted at Churchgate railway station for more 10 years, said, "The ambulance is old. The railways did get a new ambulance three years ago, but it was moved to other railway stations."
However, Zaveri said whether the ambulance is old or new would be irrelevant. 

"It doesn't matter whether the ambulance is old or new. The point is that victims can't avail of this service, which is exclusively for them," he said. 

Money matters 
A stationmaster is authorised to pay Rs 750 towards ambulance or taxi charges and Rs 60 each to four persons to carry a victim to hospital. Thus, for each accident case a stationmaster is authorised to spend up to Rs 990. In exceptional cases, this sum can be increased, depending on the gravity of the situation. 

Case study Sameer Zaveri who filed the RTI application has himself been a victim of railway apathy. At the age of 18, Zaveri was hit by a train while crossing tracks at Borivli, in the absence of a foot over bridge. He received no help from the railways, but was taken to hospital by two unidentified men. Though Zaveri's life was saved, his leg was injured beyond repair. Even today, he walks with a limp. 
The Other Side Shyam Sunder Gupta, chief public relations officer, Western Railway, said, "An ambulance is parked near the WR headquarters and is used depending upon the medical emergency. Whenever there is an accident, the firstpriority is to move the victim to hospital."

According to officials, WR has three ambulances, which are parked outside Churchgate, Lower Parel and Bandra stations.

However, when MiD DAY visited the headquarters, there was no ambulance parked on its premises. "The ambulance has gone for some repairs," said a source. 
10, the average number of people who die on railway tracks in Mumbai every day
20,706, the number of people killed in the city by WR and CR in the last five years.

Travel Safety in Mumbai Metropolis

Mumbai is a sprawling city of 13million people and growing in size and population every year. There is a need to travel great distances to the work place and back for adult men and women and to the place of learning and back for students. In addition, there is tourist travel, en-route travel, travelling to home place and back for the immigrants, business travel, travel for shopping, medical needs and the usual day-to-day human requirements for living. Travelling, therefore, is the greatest daily human activity and business in Mumbai.

All types of travelling systems are used for travel into Mumbai, i.e., air, sea, road and rail; however, within the city, road and rail travel predominate. Of these, the bulk of the people are carried by the suburban railway system. It is estimated that over 6.5million people travel by the railways daily in Mumbai city. It would be reasonable to assume that a similar number may be travelling by vehicles daily on the roads of Mumbai.

Rail Travel

The local or the suburban train system, which was, without doubt, an efficiently planned system at one time, carries the largest number of commuters in Mumbai; today, the number of travellers has far outgrown its capacity. The consistent effort by the railways to increase the capacity periodically has not been able to keep pace with the migration of outside population to the city. Though stressed beyond limits, the suburban train system is doing its job of carrying the bulk of traffic fairly well even today, but it is not without its risk.

It is not necessary to go into minute details of the existing railway tracks, work-in-progress and future plans for the purpose of this article; suffice it to say that the total length of rail tracks on the Western Railway from Churchgate to Virar is 228km and Central Railway from Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) to Karjat, Kasara, Diva-Vasai and by harbour line from CST to Mahim and Panvel is 548km as on date. That brings the total length of all the railway tracks to 776km in the Mumbai suburban area. Work is in progress at many places to increase the number of tracks and there are time-bound plans for expansion for future right up to the year 2020.

From the point of view of safety, the suburban train system has two major risk factors to contend with-accidents and crime.

Accidents

The types of accidents and the casualty figures in the Central Railway from CST to Karjat, Kasara and Panvel and in the Western Railway from Churchgate to Virar combined together as per statistics provided by the Government Railway Police, Maharashtra State, are given below: Table 1: Data on Railway Accidents
2001		2002			2003
Accidental Deaths
While crossing the railway line	2227		2078	2148
Falling off the train	646		617	532
Others	142		104	127
Total Accidental Deaths	3015		2799	2807
Injured Persons
While crossing the railway line	1147		1127	856
Falling off the train	1454		1336	1413
Others	144		151	218
Total Injured Persons	2745		2614	2487
Terrorism Casualties
Deaths due to Bomb Blast	0		0	11
Injured due to Bomb Blast	0		25	82
Total Terrorism Casualties	0		25	93
Total Casualties	5760		5438	5387

  

The Table shows that total accidental deaths in Central and Western Railways, together, are about 3,000 in a year (plus/minus 8%). The total injured persons in the railway accidents are 2,600 (plus/minus 6%). It is evident from this data that 75% of the railway-accidental deaths in Mumbai occur due to collisions between people and trains while the people are crossing the railway lines in defiance of the rules and sound advice; the cause of about 20% of the accidental deaths is people falling off the trains. The other reasons for accidental deaths in railways are: people falling in the gap between the platform and the coach while struggling with other passengers to board the trains in a rush and some travellers hanging outside the compartments die when they get hit by poles, trees or any such stationary object close to the rail tracks. In addition to these, a total of 11 deaths occurred on account of terrorist activity in the year 2003.

The record of the injured persons shows that on the average about 50% of the people are injured because of falling off the trains while 35% of the people are injured while crossing the railway tracks and about 15% due to other causes. Terrorism accounted for 25 people being injured in the year 2002 and 82 in the year 2003.

The trend of the accidents is seen to be on the decline and the credit must go the efforts of the police (GRP), the volunteer passenger organisations, such as the Mumbai Suburban Railway Passengers' Association and the railway authorities in the measures taken to reduce the accidents and increase safety awareness among passengers. A lot more needs to be done.

In the ultimate analysis, the single most important cause leading to fatalities in railway accidents is unauthorised crossing of railway lines. It is forbidden to cross railway tracks, except at authorised and controlled level crossings, but people still avoid using the foot bridges and take short-cuts across the railway lines at all places, some of which are at bends with reduced visibility. Also, the criss-crossing of rails at both sides of the railway stations often confuses the commuter about the track the trains are likely to run on. The high speed of the trains and the great distance required to bring the train to a stop practically rules out the option to halt the train to save anyone crossing the rails.

Looking into the entire accident record, one fact comes out loud and clear is that most of the accidents are caused due to the fault of the people themselves in the form of disregarding rules or because of carelessness or hurry. Also, excess of passengers over the capacity is the root cause of the extra rush during boarding and alighting leading to risky behaviour such as fighting, pushing and jostling to get into the trains and some forms of risky travel practices such as hanging outside the compartment or travelling over the roof of the coaches, etc. Of late, it is also seen that overcrowding is the major cause of fights between the passengers inside the compartments, resulting in the weaker or the outnumbered passengers being thrown out of a running train - a very brutal, callous and inhuman behaviour.

The railways have taken many steps for improving the rail-safety, such as:

• Improvement and updating of the signal system,

• Increasing the number of rakes to increase capacity,

• Adding more tracks to increase capacity and speed up traffic,

• Removal of some of the vertical poles close to the tracks,

• Reduction of the distance between compartments and platforms.

The railways refuse to take any responsibility for the accidents caused on account of unauthorised crossing of the railway tracks, people hanging outside the compartments, people sitting on rooftops of trains or people falling between the platform and the compartments. While legally they may be justified, it is not a very humane approach, for many accidents are caused due to their own carelessness too, such as piling of the sleepers or other railway items far too close to the tracks, construction of cable carrying or any other structure on the walls of tunnel that could cause injury to the people who may have some parts of their bodies protruding out of the compartments. Sometimes railways are reluctant to remove vertical poles too close to the tracks due to so-called technical difficulty. Vertical poles too close to the tracks can always be removed if there is a will to do it. A suitable technical solution can always be found and implemented.

There are standards given such as the maintenance of a minimum horizontal distance of 7ft from the centre of the tracks to the vertical poles, 5ft 6inches (plus/minus 6inches) from the centre of the tracks to the face of the platform and 2ft 6inches (plus/minus 3inches) height of the platform from the top of the rail to maintain a safe vertical clearance between the compartment and the platform. However, these can not always be adhered to on account of the variety of technical reasons and space constraints, e.g., the

level of the rails is consistently required to be raised to avoid water logging of the rails or track maintenance and then there is the vertical alignment of tracks and proper sloping to be ensured. The railways have failed to achieve the co-ordination of the raising of platform level with that of the rails because both works fall under different heads, different supervision and different budgets. Nevertheless, that calls for additional expenditure and the railways are perpetually short of funds and suffer budget-cuts.

Make Rail-Travel Safe

The major works by the railways apart, it is quite possible to make rail-travel safer by adhering to the set norms of railway safety, high quality of maintenance and vigilant supervision by the railway authorities, observance of rules and regulations by all without exception, avoiding risky behaviour/practices while travelling and by adopting humane values of tolerance and universal brotherhood by the passengers.

The railways must build sufficiently broad and strong foot-bridges/subways for crossing the tracks and also close the crossing points, frequented by the pedestrians for crossing the tracks with fencing, etc. Effective ways to avoid accidents for the citizens are: self-vigilance, adherence to the rules/regulations and following safe practices, that means no crossing of rail-tracks by the passengers, no hanging outside trains, no sitting on train roof-tops and no jostling while boarding/alighting from the trains, especially moving trains.

Rail accident victims will get medical aid in golden hour.

Published: Sunday, Jan 2, 2011, 2:14 IST

By Rajendra Aklekar | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

Commuters who fall off the train or are run over by a train now have a brighter chance of survival as the Central Railway this week issued categorical instructions to shift victims to the nearest available hospital instead of transporting them to a government or civic hospital. It is important to attend to an accident victim immediately after a serious injury, known as the golden hour.

"The railways are taking accident victims at Byculla all the way to Mumbai CST station to be admitted at St George Hospital, which is about 4.5km away, when they have a fully-equipped railway hospital located at Byculla itself," Sameer Zaveri, director (accidents) of Mumbai Suburban Railway passengers Association, said.

"The railway hospital at Byculla is less than 500 meters from the station -- a 10 minute walk or a 2-3 minute drive. In fact, an ambulance is available at the hospital 24 hours of the day," he said.

"As of now, the victim is moved in a local train to CST station and from thereon he is carried on a stretcher over a distance of 500 metres or made to walk to St George Hospital, which can prove fatal for many," he added.

On December 28, senior divisional manager KN Singh shot off a letter to the station master at Byculla instructing him to shift the victims to the railway hospital at Byculla instead of taking them to St George Hospital.

"There are much greater chances of the victim's survival as he would get the required medical help in the golden hour, a crucial period immediately after serious injuries," added Zaveri, a railway accident victim himself, who had approached the court.

"This was also contempt of the high court directions that all accident victims should be taken to the nearest hospital government or private hospital," he said.

पुकार @ Six..............

PUKAR @ six…

 

संशोधनासारखी आवडीची गोष्ट पुकारसोबत शिकायला तसेच प्रत्यक्ष करायला मिळतेय ते पण दुस-यांदा हा आयुष्यातील एक चांगला अनुभव आहे. पुकार अॅडव्हान्स युथ फेलोशिप 2010-11 साठीची मुलाखत ते आतापर्यंत सहा महिन्यांचा कालावधी उलटलाय. हा प्रवास म्हणजेच संशोधन विषय निवड ते माहिती संकलन यादरम्यानचा प्रवास असला तरीही दरम्यानच्या काळात कित्येक नवीन गोष्टी शिकायला मिळाल्या. तसेच नवीन लोकांना भेटण्याचा योग आला. त्याचा करियरमध्ये विशेषतः सदर संशोधनासाठीदेखील नक्कीच फायदा होणार आहे.

Orientation workshop    

पुकारच्या AYF WORKSHOP हे सर्वांसाठीच प्राथमिक ओळख करून देण्यासोबतच एक दिशा देणारे होते. त्यादरम्यान मिलिंद मोरजकरसारखा उत्साही मार्गदर्शक आम्हाला लाभला. ८ आणि २५ अॉगस्ट रोजी झालेले वर्कशॉपने आमच्या संशोधनाला एक नवान दिशा मिळाली. तसेच ब-याच नवीन गोष्टींचे आकलन करणेदेखील आम्हाला शक्य झाले.

What is research?

What are steps to do research?

How to from research question?

Role of literature review in research.

Use of Technology.

पहिल्या वर्कशॉपदरम्यान झालेले मिलिंद सरांचे सर्वच सेसन्स हे खुपच उपयुक्त आणि प्रभावी होते. विशेषतः सांघिक कौशल्य, साहित्याचे पुर्नविलोकन, संशोधनादरम्यान तंत्रज्ञानाचा वापर यासारख्या सत्रांनी संशोधनाच्या प्रक्रीयेसाठी महत्वाची भूमिका पार पाडली. सुनिलचा सुरूवातीला असणारा उत्साह हा जसजशी वेळ बदलत गेली तसा मावळत गेला हेदेखील तितकेच खर.

मात्र युथ फेलोशिपपेक्षा Advance Youth Fellowship हे नक्कीच वेगळे आहे. शिवाय त्यामध्ये असणा-या आठ टीम्स आणि प्रत्येकाचे विषयदेखील निराळे आणि तितकेच महत्वाचे आहेत. Orientaton workshop च्या निमित्ताने एकमेकांना एकमेकांचे विषय समजून घेण्यासाठी मदत झाली.

प्राथमिक अभ्यास

प्राथमिक प्रस्तावावर पुकारमध्ये मिलिंद सर आणि सुनिलशी झालेल्या चर्चेचा आधार घेत नोव्हेंबर 2010 मध्ये आम्ही प्राथमिक अभ्यास हा काही उपनगरीय स्थानकांदरम्यान केला. सीएसटी, भायखळा आणि घाटकोपर रेल्वे स्थानक आदी ठिकाणी पूर्ण केला. Pilot Study च्या माध्यमातून विषयाबद्दलची आमची जाण आणखी वाढत गेली. तसेच आमच्या अभ्यासाच्या मर्यादादेखील लक्षात आल्या. प्राथमिक संशोधनानंतर आम्ही आमचा अंतिम स्वरूपाचा प्रस्ताव तयार केला. प्राथमिक संशोधनानंतर संशोधनाच्या पद्धतीत बदल करत विशेषतः माहिती संकलनाचा अभ्यास करत केस स्टडीचा आधार घेण्याचे ठरवले. त्यासाठी संजय रानडे यांच्याशी जानेवरीच्या पहिल्या आठवड्यात झालेल्या चर्चेचा फायदा झाला.

ब्लॉग

http://hamaldil.blogspot.com

पुकारच्या संशोधनाचाच एक भाग म्हणून आम्ही हमालदील या नावाचा ब्लॉग सुरू केला. त्यानंतर ब्लॉगवर हमालांविषयीची माहिती अपडेट केली.

रिसर्च जत्रा

रिसर्च जत्रा हा उत्सव आम्हाला खुप आवडला. युथ फेलोशिपसमोर  अॅडव्हान्स युथ फेलोशिप करणा-या विद्यार्थ्याना विषय मांडण्याची संधी रिसर्च जत्राच्या माध्यमातून मिळाली.

Resource Person’s

Prof. Chandrashil Tambe, (C.H.M. College, Ulhasnagar)

Prof. Sanjay Ranade, (Reader, Dept. MCJ)

Dr. Rita Sawala, ( Radhi Foundation)

Sameer Zaveri, (suburban passenger association)

सूचनांचे नेहमीच स्वागत

संशोधनाच्या विषयासाठी अभ्यास करताना अनेक संशोधनातील वेगवेगळे विषय अभ्यासणासारखे आहेत मात्र धोरणात्मक संशोधनासाठी केंद्रीत अभ्यासाचा विषय नेमका निवडण्यासाठी तसेच संशोधनासाठी आणखी एकदा चर्चा करून अंतिम विषय निवडीबाबत चर्चा करण्याची सूचना मिलिंद सर आणि सुनिलने दिली.

सादरकरणा दरम्सयान सदस्यांपैकी गणेशला पुढच्या सादरीकरणासाठी तयारी करून येण्याचीही सूचना मिळाली. पुढील सादरीकरणासाठी power point presentation सादर करणार आहोत हे नक्की.