Rail surcharge is no ticket to safety

patna: if nero had more gold in his coffers, would he have stopped fiddling and saved rome from burning? the question arises in the wake of the government's decision to impose a safety surcharge on railway passengers. the surcharge will help raise funds for safety-related works in the railways but it is doubtful that it will bring about attitudinal changes in the top railway management to make rail travel safer.as announced by railway minister nitish kumar in the lok sabha on wednesday, train passengers will have to cough up an additional rs 5,000 crore over the next six years by way of safety surcharge. besides, the finance ministry will contribute rs 12,000 crore, again the tax-payers' money, to the newly-created special railway safety fund of rs 17,000 crore. if you thought the initial reference to nero was a mere exaggeration, look at the findings of an internal inquiry into a train fire about two years ago. the slr coach (guard brake van-cum-second class compartment) of the 4056 down brahmaputra mail caught fire near fetehpur in the allahabad division of the northern railway at 4.30 am on september 10, 1999. by the time the fire was controlled, it was 9 am; the entire coach had been gutted. a top official of the railway board was travelling in the same train. of course, in his own saloon, which was the last from the engine. while struggling to control the fire, the staff informed the big boss three times. instead of venturing out and supervising the operations, he chose to remain ensconced in the safe and cosy environs of his saloon. the inquiry report reveals that the big boss was none other than the present railway board chairman, askok kumar, who was at that time member (mechanical) of the board. kumar retires on friday but the old attitude, probably of colonial vintage, so aptly brought forth in the inquiry report, continues to pervade the railways. how the top officials always escape responsibility whenever a major train disaster takes places can be seen in the context of some recent disasters: nitish kumar chose to end his previous innings as railway minister on "moral grounds" following the gaisal train disaster in west bengal. the bureaucracy, however, successfully thwarted his attempts to initiate even token action against the members of the railway board. following the khanna accident in punjab, a chief engineer of northern railway, incidentally related to the then member (mechanical) of the railway board, was indicted in the inquiry report. the board decided to waive the charges. the initial inquiry report into the kadalundi train disaster in kerala has said the coaches of the train fell into the river due to failure of equipment—in this case the bridge. hence, no responsibility can be fixed on any official. obviously, the government needs to do more than merely tax the passengers. (vinaytoi@indiatimes.com)