Accident after accident

For the Pakistan Railways, the year 2019 was a sinister year in terms of the number of accidents. According to the railway ministry, 74 accidents occurred between Aug 2018 and June 2019. In Oct 2019, 73 passengers travelling in Tezgam Express were burnt to death and many others injured when a gas cylinder being carried unlawfully inside the train caught fire. On the night between Friday and Saturday, a Lahore-bound Pakistan Express rammed into a passenger bus at an unmanned railway crossing between Khairpur and Rohri killing 20 and leaving a considerable number injured. The death toll is feared to rise as most of the injured are in a serious condition. Area residents say the sound of the collision was so loud that they thought it was bomb explosion.

All these serious accidents have happened when the ministry of railways is under the watch of Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, a seasoned politician but inept in handling the affairs of his ministry as the above-stated facts show. After the present accident, in order to shift the blame he claimed the unmanned railway crossing was the responsibility of the Sindh government. In 2019, some 20 accidents occurred at unmanned railway crossings. We don’t know how the minister had tried to absolve himself from these 20 accidents. He says there are 2,470 unmanned railway crossings in the country and he has written several letters to the provincial governments.

Sheikh Rashid had accepted the responsibility for the October 2019 accident and apologised for it. In January, hearing a case relating to losses suffered by the railways, CJP Justice Gulzar Ahmed had expressed annoyance with the minister over his handling of the railways. He had said, “You should have submitted your resignation” in response to which the minister had said 75 officials had been dismissed after the Oct accident. Earlier, he had said two people had been fired. The top judge had chided the minister saying you fired mostly lower-level employees.

Accident after accident is occurring, but the high-ups remain firmly ensconced in their positions. The authorities seem to be selling negligence and the people continue to reap the terrible consequences of the horrible negligence.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2020.

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