Expressing his great shock over the death of innocent school children in a ghastly accident at an unmanned level crossing in Medak district today, Loksatta Party national President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan said such tragedies should be averted at any cost.
In a media statement, Dr. JP said that “in this day and age we must not spare any expenditure to ensure safety. Every intersection should be covered by an over-bridge or an underpass and all unmanned level crossings eliminated.”
According to the Railway Budget presented earlier this month, as many11,563 of the 30,348 level crossings in Indian Railways are unmanned. The Railway Minister said that “each unmanned level crossing is being examined in detail and depending on the site condition action will be taken to eliminate it by suitable modality.” Making an allocation of Rs 1,785 crore for road-under-bridges and road-over-bridges, the Railway Minister asked State Governments concerned to speed up their proposals and pass on their share of the cost to the Centre.
Dr. JP said that the Medak level crossing accident should serve as a wakeup call and prod the Union and State Governments to eliminate all unmanned level crossings as early as possible.
The tragedy also highlights the appalling educational infrastructure in the country, said Dr. JP. That poor and middle class families are compelled to send their children to private schools located up to 15 km away from their homes at considerable expense is a sad commentary on the prevailing system. Can’t the Government liberate our kids from risky and long commutes in their quest for the basic right to education, asked Dr. JP.
Dr. JP conveyed his deepest condolences to the families of all the accident victims.
Telangana State Loksatta Party President Bandaru Rammohan Rao, who visited the accident site said that about 6,000 students from neighboring villages attend private schools in Toopran daily.