She’ll be coming round the mountains when she comes…
The Railways ministry has been a subject of criticism for the last many years. The minster has however responded to the critics with self-righteous indignation. He is willing to resign, he says, if that can stops accidents.
As many as three hundred train accidents were recorded over the last four years. Of these 46 accidents took place in 2013, 72 in 2014, 110 in 2015 and 72 were recorded till November 2016. These were caused by collisions, derailments, incidents of fire and last but not least by collisions at unmanned level crossings. The year 2016 had the distinction as there were two accidents of collision between passenger and freight trains, leaving 6 dead in the first and 22 in the second incident. The record is enough to discredit the minister in charge in any country.
Khwaja Saad Rafique admits that at least 80 people have died crossing railway lines with unmanned level crossings. They could not be saved, and more are likely to die in similar incidents, because the government is not willing to spend on one-time investment of Rs 25 billion and Rs 2.5 billion per annum for the maintenance and repair of the manned crossings. Spending money on other railway projects without first ensuring human safety is the height of callousness not allowable in any decent country that calls itself democracy. The minister claims the level crossings are the responsibility of the provincial governments. Khwaja Saad Rafique who is never tired of point scoring against the PPP also said, according to a Radio Pakistan report, that only Punjab government had cooperated in resolving the issue. Out of a total of 2,470 unmanned railway level crossings across the country 1,195 are in Punjab. Shahbaz Sharif’s government has so far provided Rs 610 million to man only about for just 75 crossings. Rs 637 million have also been promised for the purpose. At this speed Punjab will need ten more years to finish the task. Sindh with only 504 crossings has already given Rs 100 million while Balochistan with a PML-N government has done nothing. Before committing billions for high profile projects, funds must be provided for schemes meant to ensure human safety.
