200 lives lost on city tracks in last 4 months: Report

An estimate suggests around 200 people, almost two people on an average, die on the tracks in the state capital since January. The number accounts for 40 per cent of total deaths in the state, which has witnessed over 540 deaths during the said period. 

Of all causes, including suicides on tracks, the biggest contributor to track deaths happens to be reckless use of mobile phones by the people, mostly youngsters, who remain wired while crossing tracks. Mobile phone menace on tracks was so rampant that government railway police (GRP) on Saturday conducted an exclusive drive at Chennai Central to educate people only on the dangers of using mobile phones on tracks.

That the special awareness drives of the police, mainly Railway Protection Force (RPF), which had even readied an inhouse skit team to educate 25 educational institutions in areas prone to tracks deaths, have not yielded the desired benefit, could be made out from the back of envelope casualty calculations released during the awareness drive by GRP on Saturday. 

Even by RPF’s own admission, at least 51 places in the city, Chetpet, Hindu College, Egmore, Nungambakkam, Ambattur and Nemilichery, to name a few, were vulnerable to track deaths. A closer scrutiny of the vulnerable places would suggest that most of the areas have high concentration of educational institutions, both colleges and schools. Remarkably, RPF has consistently booked over 600 cases a month since January. However, the casualty count has refused to die down, probably because RPF and GRP have shown greater interests in booking petty cases. 

Additionally, lack of manpower has hamstrung RPF and GRP equally alike. A little over two-dozen personnel have been deployed even in Chennai Central, the busiest station in the zone. GRP and RPF officers do not mind admitting on condition of anonymity that areas with high concentration of educational institutions are more prone because most of the mobile phone users and trespassers on tracks are students who throw all caution to the wind. 

“Though we deploy cops during busy hours, they have been difficult to control owing to the sheer numbers of students,” said a GRP field officer. A fair share of the blame should also go to the railway management as low frequency of trains prompts travellers to indulge in jaywalking to board trains, the officer explained.