life is cheap

 

THE lifeline of Mumbai -- The Local Train -- was jolted by another tragedy as four lives were lost to a bizzarre mishap on Monday. It was another reminder to the City That Never Sleeps that resilience of carrying on in the face of a grim accident is one thing but a collective act of resilience is the need of the hour to honour the dignity of life. The accident in Mumbra, where four passengers fell down from an overcrowded local train between Mumbra and Diva after colliding from passengers travelling on footboard in another local train, is a combination of many things, including faulty planning, excessive crowding, a sharp curve, and chronic infrastructure failure. But what hits the senses with a debilitating force is the cheap value of life in a metro which is bursting at seams due to overcrowding. Every year, death on tracks is a regular feature in Mumbai, and on almost every occasion it is the problem of overcrowding and impatience that has led to such mishaps.

 

The city and the country mourn the deaths for a while before the “spirit of resilience” takes over and life moves on. It is a grim reminder of how cheap a human life has become in the rat race of life. Be it Mumbai or Bengaluru, where a stampede during a sports celebration snuffed out innocent lives a few days ago, human life is rapidly being counted in numbers only. It is a societal tragedy of humungous proportions, much bigger than the deaths that shook Mumbai’s lifeline. The Mumbra tragedy has brought to fore many factors which led to the strange mishap. It has highlighted yet again that the local train remains the only option for a Mumbaikar for easy travel and hence it demands full focus of the planners and administrators. There are many lessons to learn for the railways administration including introduction of new rakes with additional coaches, auto-door trains on the lines of Metro Rail to avoid footboard travelling, structured boarding and deboarding system, medical help at suburban stations and many more issue persistently flagged by passengers and activists from time to time.

 

Whether the Maharashtra Government and Railways wake up to the reality after the latest tragedy remains an intriguing wait. Another aspect that has yet again been highlighted after the local train tragedy is the socio-economic issue behind the overcrowding. Mumbai remains the most-preferred destination for people around the country who seek a good living away from their own cities and small towns. Notwithstanding their qualification or skill level, hordes throng the financial capital of the country each day with hopes of starting a new chapter in life. Many of them find good openings while a majority settles for hand-to-mouth jobs with a dream of overcoming this phase in life. And for almost each of these working class people, local train is the only mean of easy and affordable means of transport. Invariably, it leads to massive crowds on local stations in peak morning and evening hours.

 

The jostle to get into the station, find entry into a local and the struggle to board a train are well documented and much debated. It has become a regular feature in Mumbai and has, in fact, become its telling character. The point here is not about flagging the issue that everybody is aware of but building alternatives in native places to keep migration to Mumbai in check. It calls for a good, if not level, playing field in other places with equal distribution of infrastructure projects, industries, education institutions and doing away with red-tapism which deters top companies to venture into other cities or small towns. If this socio-economic aspect is taken care of with a well chalked-out strategy, it will help retain local talent and also give breathing space to metros cities.