Disasters waiting to happen

The train-bus collision between Khairpur and Rohri on February 28, 2020 killed 19 people and injured more than 30 (one report quoted a figure for the injured at 40-45). The death toll is likely to rise if some of the critically injured submit to their injuries. The crash took place at an unmanned railway level crossing. Tragic as the incident is, it should come as no surprise. There are almost 2,500 such railway level crossings that are unmanned, unsupervised and have no barriers for road traffic when a train is approaching. This accident is not the first of its kind and, given the neglect of what is a public safety issue, unlikely to be the last. Unfortunately Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid has, as is his habit, refused to take even moral responsibility for the accident, shifting the blame for unmanned, unsupervised, ungated level crossings onto the provincial governments. To add salt to the wounds, he demanded the provinces should pay the railways for the cost of fixing the problem countrywide. One may be forgiven for thinking that the cost of ensuring proper management of railway level crossings would not be too high. If need be, the federal and provincial governments could put their heads together in a collaborative effort to eliminate the problem, which is nothing less than more disasters waiting to happen. Reports say the bus driver's negligence is to blame. That is certainly true as far as not taking account of the onrushing train is concerned. But given our driving habits, this too is not something new or out of the ordinary. One can quote many such accidents from the past.

Reportedly, 2019 proved the worst year for the railways in terms of accidents, loss of life and injuries. In June 2019, three people were killed when a passenger train, the Jinnah Express, hit a freight car near Hyderabad. Unlike in other democratic dispensations where the minister concerned accepts moral responsibility and resigns, Sheikh Rashid decided to cling to his office and merely apologised to the country. In October 2019, one of the most horrifying accidents in our history occurred when three carriages of the Tezgam Express travelling from Karachi to Rawalpindi caught fire near Rahimyar Khan. More than 70 people lost their lives in the inferno. Then too Sheikh Rashid tried to pass the buck by claiming the fire broke out because some passengers were using a gas cylinder to cook food on board the train. However, so far this remains just a claim since no final report on the incident has so far seen the light of day amidst speculations the fire was in fact caused by a short circuit in the carriages involved. When the Supreme Court was hearing a case about the losses being incurred by Pakistan Railways, Sheikh Rashid was grilled by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed regarding the running of the organisation. The CJP asked Sheikh Rashid to brief the court about the October 2019 accident. CJP Gulzar Ahmed admonished the minister, saying he should have resigned (as is the norm in democracies). Instead, the redoubtable Sheikh replied that 75 people had been dismissed after the tragedy. But the CJP was having none of this and told him sternly that the other day he had told the court that two people were fired. The CJP asked the minister when he would dismiss high-ranking officers instead of low-grade employees. He went on to paint the minister's organisation as a 19th century railways in which there is little else but plunder. Sheikh Rashid had better take some time off from his politicking (including frequent appearances on television) to concentrate on his ministry's travails.