KOCHI: Four persons lost their lives in a matter of seconds to a rail accident, and nobody is accountable for the tragedy! While it may seem tough to digest, that’s exactly the case with the Shoranur railway accident that happened earlier this month.
It was around 3.05pm on November 2 that the four workers — all hailing from Adimalaipudur in Salem district, Tamil Nadu — were struck by a speeding Thiruvananthapuram-bound Kerala Express on the Bharathapuzha bridge about 2km away from the Shoranur Junction railway station.
They died just two days before the visit of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to the state on November 4, for which the entire railways machinery in the state was put on edge.
“Railways are not responsible for the deaths and hence we cannot give them compensation either,” a top official from the Palakkad railway division told TNIE.
“The deceased did not die during duty-time; they were returning after their work was completed. They were asked to clean the railway yard area and they were not at all supposed to enter the railway bridge. They should have used the regular route, but they trespassed the railway bridge to reach the road. More importantly, they are not our direct employees...” the reasons not to announce compensation went on.
The Palakkad division also issued a statement stating that the deceased reached the spot “without informing the railway officials and without the permission of railway personnel”.
Since no railway work was planned on the bridge on that day, no railway protection was available on the bridge, the statement said. “The action for terminating the contract has been initiated and a criminal case also is being lodged against the contractor for failing to ensure the safety of the workers,” the Railways statement said further, putting the blame on the deceased and the contractor.
But voices from various corners have pointed out that the railway authorities pressured the contractor to finish the work on time, and thus, he brought in more people.
The four deceased were fresh to the work, which offered a paltry wage of Rs 600. Now, citing rules, the Railways say that it is the responsibility of the contractor to ensure the safety and security of the contracted workers. They also make it clear that the contractor should give compensation to the relatives of the deceased.
“Even then, we have announced an ex-gratia of `1 lakh each to the relatives of the deceased,” said a railway official. At the same time, top retired officers pointed out that the Railways cannot wash their hands off the issue that easily.
“They can list out various reasons, but Railways are the primary employers in this case. Also, had the Railways regularly checked the cleaning work, they wouldn’t have to put pressure to complete the pending work. Interestingly, no overseeing staff was employed by the Railways here,” a retired officer said.
According to him, the largest employer in the country should be more employee-friendly, and not remonstrate with technicalities and self-justifications.
Meanwhile, various political parties and trade unions have taken up the incident, demanding the Railways increase the compensation.
“We see the incident as nothing less than a massacre carried out by the Railways. The incident was a result of mismanagement by officials, just to please the railway minister. The Railways cannot get away from this,” said Dinshad N D, unit president of the Railway Contract Catering and General Workers’ Union. Workers are planning to intensify protest programmes in the coming days, until the Railways settle the issue gracefully. Both Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments have announced a compensation of `3 lakh each to the relatives of the deceased.