Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Deaths under jurisdiction of GRP, Nagpur
2009 1152
2010 1212
2011 1162
Deaths under jurisdiction of RPF, Nagpur Division
2009 250
2010 245
2011 365
Death dance continues unabated on railway tacks. As many as 665 passengers lost their lives in the past three years in Nagpur Division of Central Railway. Between 2009 and 2011 the casualties increased by 31.5 per cent, if the data compiled by Railway Protection Force (850 rail kms).
Major reason for the deaths are travelling dangerously by standing on footsteps of bogies, trespassing (crossing tracks illegally) and throwing caution to wind at unmanned level crossings are major factors. The high level safety committee headed by senior scientist Dr Anil Kakodkar in his report has referred to 15,000 people dying on railway tracks every year because of trespassing alone.
According to data by Government Railway Police (GRP), Nagpur Region (their area stretches from Gondia in East till Igatpuri in West encompassing 3713 rail kms) 3526 persons died on tracks in the past three years. Most of the casualties occur at unmanned railroad crossings. The Committee’s recommended manning all level crossings or inter alia constructing railway overbridges (RoBs). Given Indian Railways fund constraints it is not in a position to implement the same.
Overcrowded coaches is also another reason for death of passengers. People suffered critical injuries after falling from crowded coaches, when trains collide or coaches derail. The lure of taking short cuts instead of walking down foot overbridges is another major factor for people dying on railway tracks.
Sr. Divisional Commandant Railway Protection Force (RPF), Central Railway, Nagpur Division, Ibrahim Sheriff, told ‘The Hitavada’ that major causes for increase in number of casualties is travelling on footsteps, over crowing in general coaches and trespassing. RPF conducts drives at regular intervals against to curb these tendencies among travellers and nearly 3,000 passengers were booked under sec. 147 of Railway Act for violation of rules.
Adding more, he said, passenger don’t follow the proper procedure while deboarding from train. They jump out from running train in opposite direction and fall down. Many such cases are reported in Nagpur Division. People should use footover bridges to cross the tracks, the Commandant appealed.
A senior officer of Government Railway Police mentioned that around 150 trains pass through Nagpur station everyday. Due to non-availability of platforms the trains are held-up at outer signal. The passengers get down from train and walk on tracks exposing themselves to danger. We also observed that at time travellers in a hurry to get down from the trains loose their balance and fall down or slip, leading to severe injuries.
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