I hope our proactive railway minister has also heard this news and will do something to help the bereaved families.
FATEH JANG: Eight schoolchildren and one rickshaw driver were crushed to death under the wheels of the Khushhal Khan Khattak Express when a Qingqi rickshaw carrying students collided with the train at a railway crossing in Sehwan Sharif.
We keep hearing of such incidents but forget them after a few days. I hope our proactive railway minister has also heard this news and will do something to help the bereaved families. This is the least he should do.
I think Saad Rafiq is an honest and hardworking minister so I urge him to please take this incident very seriously and make sure that this does not happen ever again. A few suggestions may help him get rid of these unfortunate accidents:
1).All unmanned railways crossings are the responsibility of the Pakistan Railways, even if they are made illegally. The Pakistan Railways should find ways to man them at all costs;2) Being a very articulate parliamentarian, the minister should convince each MNA to fund the securing of railway crossings from the MNAs’ discretionary funds;3) I am sure many philanthropists will also be ready to volunteer to help the Pakistan Railways to man these tracks, but someone will have to take the initiative to take them on board; 4) Perhaps, all railway crossings should be given on contract and the contractors could charge a minimal amount on all such crossings in exchange for manning them; 5) The driving licence authorities should educate rickshaw and wagon drivers to be very careful while crossing railway tracks; 6) Students at schools and colleges should be educated to be vigilant at such crossings and warn the driver beforehand if they sense danger from an oncoming train.
I can only hope that the government starts taking care of the people. These people have brought it to power and it is its duty to provide them with security and safety. I did not see any response to this tragedy from the Sindh government or from Asif Ali Zardari.
Abdul Rauf
Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2013.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
