Showbiz vs. Safety: Has Indian Railways Become Merely an Arena for ‘Event Management’?

Indian Railways—hailed as the lifeline of the Nation—is today seen straying from its core tracks. While the railways possess the country’s largest human resource and vast infrastructure, the irony is that instead of passenger amenities, safety, and technological upgrading, these resources are allegedly being utilized for political mileage and ‘event management’.

Today, a ‘Jan-Samvad’ program is being organized across more than seven thousand railway stations of the entire Indian Railways, in which Gen-Z youth along with all stakeholders will participate, and this will be followed by a sponsored sweeping/cleanliness drive.

All these events regarding cleanliness and the availability of pure water have been continuously running since October 2nd, while drives concerning safety, maintenance, project progress, and train punctuality have all taken a backseat because they do not fetch any mileage of showmanship.

Since the government has the highest human resources and other resources in the railways compared to other ministries, the entire workforce—bypassing the daily amenities of the railways and passengers—is deployed in ‘event management’ for the drive of government work. However, the government does not realize how these “servants of the public” under this guise are hollowing out the country and the system for their own personal gain.

A vigilance campaign is also underway this month, along with a water quality campaign, pantry car checking drives, counting stray dogs and deciding what to do with them—these are also on priority, and a Google Sheet on solid waste management is also making the rounds, with flex boards made for all stations. How much daily work is being affected by all this, the heavy decline in the quality of decisions, production, and services, rising expenses, the sudden tax imposed on railway electricity, the growing crowds and filth in trains—all these works will not be managed by this “make reels campaign” and continuous “event management”.

The headcount for all government of India campaigns comes from the railways, and Modi ji should at least ask a fundamental question to the Railway Ministry because people busy making reels all over the place ended up causing Balasore, Puri, and Bandamunda. The Supreme Court has found an additional expenditure of 10,000 crores in the Government of India’s expenses to be valid, because due to Office Order 58/2016, nobody has the leisure to look after their own work.

Today the situation is such that the Chairman of the Railway Board discusses the electronic design of LED fittings with the CME/RCF, and a supervisor stated that the level of discussion held by Level-17 and 15 officers only shows that the top leadership of the railways does not even know which work should be done by whom, the result of which will be that the prices of everything will increase while fire safety will remain right where it is.

By this afternoon, more than 100,000+ photos will be uploaded to social media; whether a train catches fire or clothes are stripped off in court—what difference does it make?