Recently, disturbing reports indicate that at times the behavior of some people with a backward attitude is to say it’s amusing to throw mud, dirty water, and even cow dung at vehicles on railway tracks. This behavior, it should be said, is vile and dangerous. It reflects a near-total abandonment of civic morality and respect for public property.
Millions of passengers aboard India's railways rely on trains for their survival. It poses a lot of dangers when people pick up trash or harmful materials and toss them at trains:
- Safety hazards for passengers: such acts may cause travellers injury, break windows and instigate panic attacks.
- Property Damage: Trains are public property, and destroying them is punishable.
- Civic duty: This behaviour is an irresponsible disregard of common infrastructure.
To some, what appears to be a prank is a criminal act that threatens lives and squanders taxpayers’ dollars.
These incidents have drawn attention to railway authorities for their incidents. The requirement is straightforward: the law must be strict on offenders. We must concentrate more attention and surveillance, in order to hunt off the culprits. Anybody in trouble for such acts should be arrested and imprisoned as is required by railway safety laws. Awareness programs can train people to understand the gravity of such behavior. Authorities can send a powerful message that when somebody commits such an act as bad as it gets, public safety must not be compromised.
Citizens are outraged on social media, tagging @RailMinIndia and calling for accountability. There are many who argue that only strict punishment will come to an end such reckless acts. You could hear the message of the people: Trains are not only mechanical machines, they are essential public assets to be defended.
But throwing mud, dirty water or cow dung at trains is not fun and games. It is dangerous and, like its predecessor, puts the public at risk, affecting both the safety of passengers and property. The railway authorities must act decisively to stop this conduct before it can go on. Arrests, heavy penalties and consciousness should be given for preventing it, for the safety of passengers and for the safety of trains too. Nothing should be taken for granted, not even public property, not just passenger safety -- and those that ignore it have gotten hit by the bullet.
