Fix Responsibility

(Letter to friends in media, public & government)

Dear friends,

The point is well accepted that responsibility must be fixed once a mistake has been made. This ensures that those responsible for the mistake are held accountable and others get a message to tighten their belts and work with more sincerity and devotion. Such must be the case for the stampede that recently happened at the Elphinstone Road suburban station in Mumbai.

While accepting the above, we must also remember that we are a democratic country so we must follow the process of law and give due thought before holding anyone guilty. We are not like the country where a king wanted to fix responsibility for some wrong and hang a person for it. So when no one could be blamed or held responsible, he ordered the guards to go to the city and bring the first person they find who is ‘x’ ft tall and hang him, just because someone must be hanged. So let us look at the whole issue in a dispassionate and logical manner.

In the incident at Elphinstone Road station, deaths were caused due to stampede at the foot over bridge because of overcrowding. Overcrowding happened because passengers were not getting out of the station as it was raining and perhaps there was a puddle at the landing of the foot over bridge. Those who know Mumbaikers, know that they are very well prepared for rains during the monsoon – wear rubber shoes, carry raincoat or umbrella and keep a pair or two of clothes at the office for contingencies. They maintain this routine during the monsoon season which is usually over by mid-September. So the rain at the end of September must have caught many who were not prepared for it. Those familiar with Mumbai rains also know that often it rains for a short duration (4-5 minutes) and slows down or stops. Obviously, passengers, not prepared for rain and not wanting to get wet, did not get out of the station and waited at the foot over bridge for the rain to stop. Now, ‘locals’ in the Mumbai suburban system know that ‘locals’ running with a gap of 2-3 minutes between them and bring about 3000 passengers each time. With those at the exit point (foot over bridge) not getting out and every 2-3 minutes hundreds of passengers adding to the crowd resulted in chaos. Imagine the situation – it was office time, rain was not stopping, passengers not getting out of station, more and more passengers were getting off the train so it was natural for the crowd to swell up at the exit point.

Now, the question is – how do you control the crowd in such a situation? You cannot push the passengers out of the station and you cannot also stop the trains from adding to the numbers at the station and of course you have no control over rain. Well, one can say that railways should have thought of making a bigger and wider over bridge. Yes, but then we arrive at the question of optimum size – how big should the foot over bridge be? One must also remember that for every size and design there is always an issue of maximum capacity it can bear and there is every possibility that the number can and will go beyond the capacity. What is the solution?

Can you stop the trains at the previous station once the platform are crowded at a particular station? Surely not, because it would add to the problem at the station where you stop the train. Stopping it in mid-section will give rise to another set of unacceptable situations. Can you control the crowd physically by stopping them from taking the foot over bridge? Yes it should be possible but then the numbers will swell at the platform and one cannot eliminate possibility of someone getting pushed down and coming under the incoming train or even getting caught in a stampede.

Now let us look at the question of ‘apathy’ and ‘official callousness’ at not building the bridge and completing the works which are already approved. Well, works are examined and are approved in regular course and those familiar with the budgetary process, know that Indian Railways is large not only in terms of the size of its passenger network, manpower etc., but also for the number of already approved works in the budget.  Yes, the railway projects have long gestation period and the ‘shelf life’ of projects is generally long but the situation is such that if all the projects which stand approved, as on date, are to be completed it will require about 10-12 years or so if no other work is sanctioned in this period. Availability of funds/money is one constraint, availability of material and skills in the market is another, and like this there are many other constraints because of which all these cannot be completed in 2-3 years. How did it happen that such a large number of projects got approved and these are not taken up? How can ‘babus and netas’ be so indifferent and callous not to take up and complete the sanctioned work immediately? There are many more questions which can be asked and many of these will be hard to answer.

But before raising these questions and finding their answers, let me mention a few peculiarities of Elphinstone Road Suburban station, where the tragedy happened. I have worked in Mumbai in an office in Lower Parel which is in that area. Mumbai is served on the western side, by the Western Railway suburban network and on the eastern side by the Central Railway suburban network. There are a few stations, like Andheri and Dadar, which are served by both the networks. Parel station of Central Railway is on the eastern side of Elphinstone Road station of Western Railway. There is a foot over bridge connecting the platform of the two stations so that the passengers coming from the eastern network can move over to western network, and vice-versa at these stations. Since Dadar is more crowded and one has to walk a longer distance to switch between these two networks, passengers often switch over at these two stations – Elphinstone Road & Parel. While dealing with the issue concerning passengers at these stations, one also has to remember that there were a number of mills in the area, which got closed and a very large number of officers have come up in the compounds of these mills. These offices are serviced by Elphinstone Road station. Therefore, the number of passengers crossing over at Elphinstone Road- Parel has gone up many fold and obviously the capacity/facilities at these two stations have not gone up in the same proportion.

Why has that happened – perhaps on account policy of following ‘coalition dharma’ all these years. For many years the post of Minister of Railways was filled by coalition partners of the ruling party at the Center and perhaps because they followed a ‘look east’ policy, the western system did not get the attention it deserved. It is a fact that the Mumbai suburban system has remained neglected. The focus of Mumbai Rail Vikas projects have been different (AC-DC Conversions etc) and it was not focused at bringing out all-round development of the network at the desired pace. This is not to find faults with the Mumbai Rail Vikas Projects because Mumbai Suburban Railway network would have completely collapsed by now if the projects under this scheme had not been taken up.

There is a myth about the Mumbai Suburban Railway System – it is loss making system. This is not true. Moreover, one must remember that Metro Railway System of Kolkata too is a loss making system and so are a number of other loss making segments of the Indian Railway networks which did not get/remain neglected over the years. I remember that just before ‘Y2K problem’ pulled all resources, a study had been conducted which had shown that these two suburban networks of Mumbai were not loss making provided the costing exercise is done by working out the ‘cost drivers’ based on ground realities. The calculations show a loss only when one adopts the out dated cost apportionment ratios for working out profit/loss of the system.

Mr Suresh Prabhu was doing great work as the Railway Minister and had taken up lots of long awaited important items. Unfortunately, Indian Railways have a system where the minister and senior management are held accountable even for gross negligence of the lowest staff. Just compare – one accident in railways, and heads roll - the Minister, Chairman and Member of Railway Board while in Pachkula, a larger number of people died and nothing happened even to the lowest functionary. The crisis in the Agriculture sector is another example that despite ‘Farmers’ suicides’, no one has been held accountable in any ministry.

So how do we sort out this problem of ‘disproportionate accountability’ in railways? We must have a similar system in railways as being followed in the other ministries so that the Minister, Board Members and senior management is well protected, and continue their good work despite such incidents and are not asked to go as a result of public ‘outcry’ or a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction!!