December 14, 2004 ☼ Public Policy
The Indian Railways risks killing far more innocent civilians than the most hellish ISI spawn. In the perverse dynamics of India’s coalition politics, the Railway ministry ends up in the hands of brazen populist politicians of Bihar and West Bengal. The laws of physics and the laws of economics do not operate here, the calculus of electoral politics does.
And nobody in the government or opposition even talks about reforming the railways — every terrible accident is buried in a morass of body counts, ex-gratia payments, television debates and lowly scapegoats. This time, two unlucky station-masters get slapped with homicide.
Railway Minister Laloo Prasad, who visited the accident site, termed the collision as a “murder” and said Station Masters of Chak Kalan and Bangara would be charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder under IPC on the charge of allowing the two trains to travel on the same track. [Daily Excelsior]
The obvious systemic faults will probably be neatly documented in an official enquiry and suitably placed in the archives of the railway ministry, gathering dust, and serving as an occassional snack for the ministry’s underfed rodents.
With the railways in such an murderous mode, building that railway link to Pakistan can well turn out to be an act of cross-border terrorism carried out by India.
Laloo Prasad is right on one count — yesterday’s tragedy is murder most foul. Its perpetrators, however, are sitting in parliament.
Last night, I watched Laloo Prasad Yadav speak to reporters about the incident. He’s not funny anymore.
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