Deaths or tragedies are the sad part of human life and nothing much can be done about them. But the manner in which people are killed in some of the tragedies that has grabbed news headline these past few months is quite dreadful to say the least. Reading about it on a regular basis, and as a country we should worry about the safety of citizens. A country as large in size and population as India will probably be prone to mishaps. Statistics will give proof that India as a country will come across as more vulnerable when it comes to public tragedies. This, however, should not put us into sigh or inaction. We need to turn attention to the question of safety for a billion plus population and this need to come into the forefront of our public discourse, which at present is not there. Public safety ought to be a priority as the Clean India (Swachh Bharat) campaign. Hopefully Prime Minister Narendra Modi can take the lead in addressing this equally fundamental right of every citizen to live in safety.
The latest in a long list of tragic accidents reported from across the country this year alone is >the death of over 100 people and nearly 150 injured after a massive blast caused by mining explosives stored in a building ripped through a crowded area in Petlwad town in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. The deadly accident happened on September 12, triggered by gelatine sticks, used for mining, that were illegally stored along with LPG cylinders in a nearby home. On the same day, two British women were killed and 11 people injured after three carriages of a >tourist train derailed on its way to the Himalayan city of Shimla. And if that was not enough, in yet another accident, two people were killed as nine coaches of a Duronto Express going from Secunderabad to Mumbai >derailed in Karnataka early on September 12. Just a few months back, the derailment of two trains in Madhya Pradesh’s Harda town had killed at least 31 people and several left injured.
Just consider that in the last few months alone there has been countless number of people killed, not in terror strikes by militants, but of innocent citizens who have fallen victim because they live in a dangerous country, which is evident from India's poor safety track record. Whether it is the death toll arising out of accidents involving our public transport system, the construction sector, roads, food, medicines or just about the risk to life and limb from the larger eco-system around us, including the >most recent stampede in Andhra Pradesh during the holy dip, something must be done to ensure better safety of our citizens. It does not require rocket science theory to understand that the casualty from some of the accidents cited above is higher than — say soldiers killed in recent terrorist strikes.
Recent media reports on a range of tragic events will throw light on perhaps what needs to be done across different concerns but all related to public safety measures and the response that must come. For instance, toxic or adulterated liquor takes a heavy toll of lives each year. As per media reports, the death toll from a >recent hooch tragedy in Mumbai, Maharashtra was 98 with many others under treatment in various hospitals. Every passing year scores of people die after consuming unsafe liquor. The issue of bootlegging and adulterated liquor that is sold illegally is a chronic problem that will need more stringent measures besides having a relook at liquor prohibition policy.
Then take the case of counterfeit medicines or drugs. In a startling disclosure recently, the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) Director Anil Sinha, while speaking at the first Indo-French workshop on ‘Combating Counterfeit Medicine’, pointed out that more people have died due to consuming counterfeit medicines than those who have died of terrorism in the last 40 years. The CBI Director was quoting an estimate of international agency Interpol. And as mentioned by him, though the problem in India has not reached an alarming proportion, “nevertheless we cannot ignore this global menace, which is slowly taking the shape of a transnational organised crime”. To stop circulation of spurious drugs in India and protect consumers will require alertness of our security systems.
Other more visible endanger to public safety can be seen almost on a regular basis — those involving our public transport system, roads and other public service utilities. A few weeks ago, around 15 people were killed after a >high-tension wire fell on a bus in Rajasthan; 22 people died after >a van fell into the Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh; five were killed in Punjab after a >leak in an ammonia gas tanker ; still later 17, including five children were killed in a tractor-truck collision. And earlier around this time last year, 61 construction workers were killed and several others injured in a >building collapse in Chennai . A building collapse in January in the tourist resort of Goa claimed at least 14 lives. A few years ago, the collapse of a > Lalita Park building in East Delhi had killed 71 people.
Remember these are casualty figures for only the recent past. Deaths from unsafe building construction, traffic violation and other poor safety standards in India will be staggering. Even after several commissions of enquiries or reports prepared, why are we still witnessing illegal and unauthorized practices endangering public safety? Even in the latest accident at Jhabua, the Madhya Pradesh government was very prompt to order a judicial inquiry. But what has been the benefit of such probes when remedial measures are not acted on? Have we the public cared to even ask the government to put such reports in the public domain? Have people been brought to book for committing offenses that compromise public safety? Perhaps large scale corruption along with the general poor standard that we maintain and encourage, especially in the government (public) sector ought to be blamed. As in the case of crimes like terrorism or murder, the rule of law must also work to deter public safety hazards.
Ironically even for the media, when accidents or tragic events take place, it makes front-page news but the issue of public safety is not given too much importance perhaps because of its low advertising value. Once a tragedy serves its purpose of making news, the question of public safety vanishes into oblivion until the next tragedy strikes. The media in India must give greater prominence to the question of public safety so that the required attention is brought to bear on public policy.
It is not just the media but in general there is a lack of interest in the important aspect of public safety and we don’t really seem to care about it too much. It’s not even an issue during elections. As governments and citizens alike we should worry about public safety and take preventive measures so that people and their lives are not put at risk. And therefore the question is how we can ensure public safety at all times and avoid loss of precious human lives. The answer will perhaps lie in how effectively we are able to govern ourselves and also the need for duty-conscious citizens to rise to the occasion in playing their assigned role.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi did take up the issue of road accidents in India during his monthly Maan Ki Baat radio programme recently. While expressing shock over the statistics of one fatality every four minutes in road accidents in India, Mr. Modi said his government will soon introduce a Road Transport and Safety Bill in Parliament and work to implement the National Road Safety Policy and a Road Safety Action Plan. It’s a welcome relief that the PM has understood the gravity of the problem at hand but he needs to go beyond road safety and incorporate a larger policy of all public safety hazards. If, as Mr. Modi was quoted as stating, a total of 1,37,000 people became road accident victims in 2013 alone, one can very well imagine the toll from all accidents put together. Can Mr. Modi then do a Swachh Bharat when it comes to public safety? With a strong mandate to not only govern but also to bring about a change in the country, as several of his public initiatives goes to show, Mr Modi should embrace the idea of a safe India as he has done for a clean India. Mr Modi certainly does not lack when it comes to taking up innovative ideas in government. What he needs is encouragement and support to undertake new possibilities that can improve the system. In Canada for instance, there is a separate authority created to look into public safety with even a separate Minister to look after this department. Public Safety Canada was created in 2003 to ensure coordination across all federal departments and agencies responsible for national security and the safety of Canadians. Its mandate “is to keep Canadians safe from a range of risks such as natural disasters, crime and terrorism”. Whether we can also have a more organized and integrated approach to tackling public safety in India, Mr. Modi should be open to borrowing the best practices from around the globe.
(Along Longkumer is a former Editor of The Morung Express , a Nagaland-based English newspaper. He is a keen observer of Indian politics and current affairs around the globe. Feedback is welcome at alongnews@yahoo.com)
