Letters: Railways - A clean-up act

This refers to Subir Roy's column "Cleaning up Indian Railways" (Value for Money, March 25). Roy is right in drawing similarities between the railways and an Augean stable. Hercules could only clean up the filthy stable in one day by diverting a river. The railways (and hundreds of other Augean stables in our country) also needs a Herculean effort to clean up the mess. One Tata or Bajaj cannot do this, however meticulous they might be.

Roy also mentions how some railwaymen privately admitted that cost-cutting and maintaining time schedules were the root causes of train mishaps. This is a disturbing fact. For all ventures, safety should remain the top target.

I am sure the railways does not need a high achiever to be on the top to implement maintenance schedules and ensure that all the safety measures are taken. It requires vigorous auditing by an expert group of auditors and clear accountability of regional managers for compliance with safety norms.

I also agree with Roy's point of addressing the "primary" need, but isn't hygiene a factor? Have we become so oblivious to human needs that we focus on passenger amenities, station beautification and reducing manpower at the cost of human safety?

Ashok Chakrabarty Kolkata

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