On 19th August 2013,The Dhamara station in Bihar’s Khagaria district witnessed a horrific train tragedy in which as per the reports 37 people lost their lives and around 24 others sustained injuries.The incident occurred between 7:30 am to 8:00 am when the Saharsa-Patna Rajyarani Express travelling at 80 kmph ran over them,the express train was not scheduled to stop at that station..
More details are available here–Hindustan Times.
Bihar Train Tragedy
Image Courtesy–Google
This post is in no means to discuss the tragedy or to give a report on the tragedy rather I am writing this clarify who is to be blamed for this horrifying incident.
Who is to be blamed–The Government,The Railway Officials,The Linemen,The Passenger of the Train,The Loco Pilot or The People who were crossing the tracks….Tell me Who is to be blamed?
Since Dhamara is a very small station there is no facility of foot over-bridge and the people have to take the tracks to go either side of the Station and truly speaking this station does not see much crowd except this time of the year,the auspicious month of Sawan during which devotees heads to the Katyayani Temple and the way to reach this temple is through this station.
- As I mentioned the Express train bound to Patna was not scheduled to stop at The Dhamara station,so it was travelling with its usual speed as I guess the it was given Green Signal by the lineman or the Railways,so blaming the Railway Person or the Lineman is out of question as they didn’t know that some people will be crossing the tracks,as we all know tracks are not meant to be used as footpaths or for crossing activities.
- The question of blaming the Passengers in the Train is really out of context and they can never be in question.
- Now most of the People are blaming the Loco Pilot of the Train but my question is What is there to blame him?He intentionally didn’t run the train on the people crossing the tracks and he tried his best to prevent the tragedy but to stop a train with 80 kmph and about 700 passenger on board is surely not like playing a game..Had he tried to save those 37 people the accident would have been more fatal,more lives would have been lost,more injuries would have been reported.
- Now coming to the people who were crossing the Tracks-I feel there was some mistake on their parts as they knew they were crossing the railway tracks,they should have been more careful,had they looked on both sides(right and left),they could have easily sighted the train coming towards them and who the hell on earth doesn’t hear the horn of train or the sound of the engine–especially Engines of Indian Railways.I guess they were so immersed in devotion that they were far from reality.
- The Government,The Railway Dept. has also a part to play in this tragedy,In India every year many people lost their lives crossing railway tracks,even though Railway is making a huge profit they are yet not able to provide certain amenities for the betterment of the People–No matter how small a station is,a Foot over-bridge is must,had their been a Foot over-bridge such kind of tragedy never would have taken place.
So all in all the Tragedy happened because of the negligence on the part of the People crossing the tracks and The Government and Railway Dept. for not providing required amenities to the People even after knowing the rush this time of the year.
Apart from that some people,better to call them mob took the incident to another level burning train coaches,uprooting tracks,beating up the loco pilot,destroying public properties and railway offices to show the anger.I wonder why they showed their anger after the incident,they could have shown their anger before and pressurizing the Govt. and The Railway Dept. to build a Foot Over-Bridge in Dhamara station and they could have saved the lives of 37 people.
With all the sympathy to People who lost their lives and condolences to their family I still believe it was those people on the tracks who were fully responsible because they were not aware..So,I urge everyone to be aware as much as you can in every step of life as there is no harm in being aware and awareness surely help us keep away many problems….
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