Unmanned Railway Crossings - Realize the agony

Unmanned Railway Crossings – realize the agony

The recent incidents of deaths of school children at unmanned railway crossings at Kot Mehtaab near Baba Bakala, has put a big question mark over the seriousness of railway authorities for the safety of people.  Sikh Siyasat sources who collected information from the spot of accident, informed that the school bus driver has hearing problem. The school children shouted a loud when they saw the train coming towards their bus, but the bus driver did not paid attention.

Deaths at unmanned level crossings should be a cause for serious concern for the railway authorities The Railway Ministry shows huge profits in the budget but is not ready to bear the cost of manning the crossings. Does anybody realize the agony of the family of those killed at unmanned level crossings?

Despite number of deaths at the unmanned railway crossings, neither the railway for making arrangements to man the unmanned railway neither crossings nor drivers are serious while crossing.     The graph of victims at the unmanned railway crossings is on the rising trend but this have not moved the railway authorities concerned as no positive steps have been taken to reduce such incidents.  At the same time, the driver’s community has also not learned a lesson from the past accidents and don’t bother to wait for a fraction of second to let the train pass.  It is the driver on the roads can stop easily stop whereas on the trail track, it is difficult to put a break which will be too risky.

There are 509 unmanned crossings in Ferozepur Division, of which 68 have either been converted into manned crossings or eliminated but the remaining 441 crossings still exist.  By the end of the year, 33 will be converted into manned crossings and in another next three years 265 unmanned crossings will be manned by 2015.  The railway plans to 72 crossings by constructing diversions and permanently closing 29 unmanned where traffic low is less than 500 vehicles in a day.

As per the sources, there is also a plan to construct subways by eliminating the crossings in the next three years plan at 25 locations.  However, where high speed trains ply, there is no unmanned crossing on the main lines while on the branch lines there are many unmanned crossings.

While most of the deaths were reported due to the alleged negligence of the drivers of vehicles trying to cross the unmanned points, some victims were crushed while they were crossing the track on foot. One such incident was reported from Tahli Sahib locality when Mohinder Pal was crushed while trying to cross the Jalandhar-Amritsar track between Surnussi and Kartarpur. He was on his way to fetch milk.

A majority of the mishaps on these tracks have been those of school vans or buses. Drivers talking over mobile phones and failing to notice approaching trains has been the common cause. Thus, the use of mobile phones by drivers of school buses and vans should be strictly banned,

Indian Railways needs to review grey areas, be it signaling, track replacement or the status of the rolling stock, especially the unmanned crossings.

Accidents at unmanned crossings occur due to human error. It does not mean the necessary steps to avoid mishaps should not be taken.

Another solution to avoid accidents at the unmanned railway crossings is that these crossings should be attached with ‘red light signals’ on both sides from the nearest railway stations till such time these are manned so that no vehicle or person crosses it till the light is green, as is done in the US.  The cost of installing these signals will be lesser than manning the level crossings. If this system can work in the US, it can also work in India.

There is a need to create awareness among the people especially the driver’s class as how to cross them by organizing seminars in educational institutions and by calling the drivers community attached with schools, transport, truck unions etc.  The initiative taken by the railways, to stage ‘nukkad nataks’ is appreciable but it needs to be made a regular feature. Counselling camps at schools, villages located near the rail track and special classes for drivers should be held. Periodical medical check-up of eye-sight and hearing problem of the drivers, which caused the recent accident near Baba Bakala, will be another factor to help to reduce the rail accidents.

Nine are not fine without media persons in Lok Pal

Media Person should be a part of Lok Pal

Nine are not fine

without media 

persons in Lokpal

By Harish K. Monga

Lokpal will be a novel experiment in curbing corruption in high places, and should not get perverted or tainted by vested interests.  As of now, the Lokpal bill draft is so weak and ineffective that the corrupt would not be afraid of the watchdog and the poor would never get justice. In fact, corruption and black money are issues that have agitated the minds of millions in the country.

If every individual does his duty sincerely, why should he be afraid of the Lokpal Bill, even if he is President, Prime Minister or Chief Justice of India?

I don’t think the Lokpal Bill will be required if every citizen of India becomes a sincere, dedicated and devoted citizen. The aim of the Jan Lokpal Bill is to effectively deter corruption, redress grievances of citizens and protect whistle-blowers. The bill would create an independent ombudsman body called the Lokpal if the bill is made into law. The body would be empowered to register and investigate complaints of corruption against politicians and bureaucrats without prior government approval.

The political class does not want the Lokpal Bill to be approved and made a law. They fear that it would only act against them and send them behind bars for all their misdeeds and corruption. India expects the Lokpal Bill to be strong enough to leave no stone unturned to eradicate corruption from the country. In fact, a time bomb  of unrest is ticking in India.

As of now, the lack of unanimity among members continues to be the bane of Team Anna and the rate at which Team Anna has been losing members reflects badly on its working.  Within a short span Swami Agnivesh, P.V.Rajagolpal, Rajinder Singh and Qasmi have ceased to be part of the team for various reasons. 

Since the corruption is at its peak almost at all levels even it has entered the Army when number of scams have come on surface, the passing of Lokpal bill has become a necessity. 

However, going by the present situation, it is felt that the onus is now on veteran civil activists to revamp team to infuse new life into it.  Those working for their own agenda or vested interests must be kicked out without any delay. Taking cognizance of the situation, the need of the hour is to give representation to social, dedicated and devoted activists. Even, Mayawati too have demanded the representation of SCs, OBCs in Lokpal Committee. 

In such a situation, the government can think over giving representation to the prominent media-persons, in the nine members proposed committee. Media-persons are already doing a commendable job for putting wiser to its readers the realities in the society and giving them representation in the Lokpal means they will work as a mirror to show what is actually happening in the society and will help an instrument to bring social change also.

Thus, the success of Lokpal will depends upon carrying everybody including a representation of  media-persons  as one of the member of Lok Pal Committees, who have the courage to say “Right to right and wrong to wrong” .

KHAP PANCHAYAT'S new strategy is to gain popularity

Khap Panchayat’s new strategy is to gain popularity

By Harish K. Monga

The initiative taken by the Khap Panchayats of Haryana, with a view to inspire other Panchayats and woman of village Bibipur in district Jind to combat the menace of female foeticide, is appreciated.  In fact, in the days to come, it is to be seen as to whether the Khaps will override structural constraints to cast a new identity for themselves.

The legitimacy of the khap panchayat as an institution touched the lowest ebb in recent times, which was a cause of concern for its political supporters, the ruling as well as thje major opposition party,both being ardent supports of khaps.

It is a thousand pities even after 64 years of Independence, India is still talking of and suffering from caste obsessions and gender problem.  But Khap Panchayast have shown to the entire country how such bodies can bring about a social change for the good of the humanity.  In fact, imbalanced sex ratio is a big social problem and needs to be checked with commitment and political will.

There is no doubt about the fact that 21^st century belongs to women.  The women are dong exceedingly well in every sphere of life.  Whether sports, entrepreneurship or civil services, women are doing well.  Gone are the days when women were treated as a piece of decoration at home.  Today’s women are very apt at flexing professional muscle as deftly as maternal instincts.

Thousands of women had already participated in the Maha Panchayat and came forward to debate the sensitive issue of female foeticide and seek solutions within the structure of Khap.

There is a need to organize awareness camps with the help of Khap Panchayats in Haryana, to change the mindset of people, if they are really serious about the female child, to set an example for the rest of the country.  The motive behind this new strategy to save the girl child, is also to gain popularity which it has lost due to number of honour killings for violating the human rights and functioning as a parallel judicial system.

The future of Jats of Khap Panchayats, who are known for being energetic, resourceful, hardworking and rebellious against all kinds of wrong doings, will be dark unless they carry with them load of social issues which are not in the interest of the masses, on their backs.