Rail authorities rapped on safety

The Bombay high court on Monday reprimanded rail authorities for not making any sincere efforts to make arrangements to ensure that train accident victims are attended to promptly. The court also asked the authorities to form a core team and take steps on a war-footing to deal with the issue.

The court also directed the railway authorities and concerned hospitals to seek a reply from all those hospitals that had refused to admit a 29-year-old injured rail accident victim last year, which delayed her medical treatment by almost nine hours, resulting in her death.

The division bench of Justice V.M. Kanade and Justice Revati Mohite-Dere was hearing a PIL filed by social activist Zameer Zaveri and others seeking measures to make travel safe for passengers of trains. It said that 80 per cent of Mumbai’s population do not have any other option but to travel daily by trains from their home in the suburbs to the workplace and return in the evening. “The commuters certainly know the risk involved in travelling, but still they travel by train after offering prayers to God because they have no choice,” the bench said.

Sachin Pawar, brother of Darshana Pawar who died after a fall from a local train after being hit on the head by a thief on February 9, filed an affidavit describing how the delay in treatment had cost her her life.

The court was informed that the incident happened in February last year when Badlapur resident, Darshana Pawar, a receptionist in Navi Mumbai, boarded a local at Thane. She fell down after a stone hit her on the head ahead of Ambernath railway station. Her fellow passengers pulled the chain but the train stopped at Badlapur station. The stationmaster was informed about the incident who took the next train to reach the spot. She was then taken to civic-run Chaya Hospital but doctors recommended shifting her to the government-run Central Hospital in Ulhasnagar.

The bench then asked the Railways and the hospitals concerned to file within a week replies to the affidavit filed by the victim’s brother.