Mumbai’s suburban railway network goes by a tired but apt sobriquet, the lifeline of Mumbai
Mumbai’s suburban railway network goes by a tired but apt sobriquet, the lifeline of Mumbai. For the men behind the scenes, though — the gangmen, engineers and others working on the tracks — it may as well be a death line.
A report in this paper cited that the National Rail Mazdoor Union (NRMU) has lost 20 of its men this year alone, while the Western Railway Mazdoor Sangh (WRMS) lost 44 workers since 2010. These fatalities are trackmen, track maintainers, and engineers in the line of duty.
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In an age when India is touting its high-tech progress and space programme, railway gangmen are still using manual methods to signal each other to move away from the track before a train approaches. Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu is yet to make good on his announcement that ‘rakshaks’ or walkie-talkies will be given. Each piece is estimated to cost R80,000 and, apparently, are still undergoing trials in a couple of places.
Just like it is unthinkable that we use typewriters today, it should be unthinkable that railway workers do not have access to something as basic as walkie-talkies when it could save their lives.
We need to see serious will in implementing this without delay, no matter how high the cost of these gadgets. We have progress when it comes to trains, routes and, even more, railway stations. Our local trains have improved to some degree and new railway stations have been proposed. Commuters have more options to buy tickets, so when the lifeline of Mumbai can move ahead in certain aspects then why should it lag behind or be stuck in a rut when it comes to such a vital issue like safeguarding lives of its workers?
The ‘rakshak’ is long overdue. How many more lives will it take for these to become a reality?
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