TSE Public Safety 20070529

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Editorial of the week

Public Safety

Courtesy: The Sangai Express 29th May, 2007

The tragic accident at Loukoipat wherein four people including a mother and her child died when the boat which they were riding capsized in the middle of the lake has added an urgency to the need to redefine public safety in Manipur.

Was the disaster at Loukoipat waiting to happen or was it something that could have been easily avoided or averted if only the basic safety norms were followed is the logical question that should follow such a tragic incident.

Though the report of a probe into the incident and the minute details of the tragedy are not yet officially available, it has been more than made clear that there were about 15 persons on board the boat which sank in the middle of the lake.

A view of the scenic Loukoipat and the mangled remains of the boat which capsized killing four and injuring others

What does the safety regulation at the Loukoipat say with regard to the capacity of the boats being used there ? Was it advisable to allow 15 persons, though many of them may have been children, to board a boat in the lake ?

If the answer to this is no then why weren't the tourists stopped from boarding the boat with so many individuals ? Who are the people responsible for enforcing the safety norms at the lake ?

These questions are important for it is not only about following written down rules and regulations but involves human lives and the tragic loss of four human lives in the accident on May 27 may have been avoided if only the basic safety rules were followed.

For long, the people as well as the authority concerned in Manipur have been taking public safety for granted. Nobody seems to care what will happen if the safety norms or rules are not followed and fewer still care whether there are such things as safety norms, especially when it comes to recreation parks for children.

Today it is about Loukoipat, tomorrow it could be anywhere else. How safe are the swings, the slides and other installations put up at Indira Park is one question that we may raise at this point.

What happened at Loukoipat was a tragedy and our hearts go out to the family members of the victims and while we pray and hope that a tragedy of such magnitude does not recur in the future, this tragic incident should serve as the eye opener for all of us to the need to redefine and draw up a new understanding of what public safety is all about.

It is not only about accidents taking place in a recreation park or a lake but about our general attitude to what constitutes the safety of all.

This indifferent attitude and approach to public safety is perhaps best exemplified during times of festivals, especially during the five day Yaoshang festival when kids zoom around in their two wheelers without caring for the safety of anyone.

This attitude again manifests itself when crackers and rockets are used indiscriminately during Diwali. It is all a question of caring for the people living next door or for the people sharing the same road or the same vehicle.

When we talk about public safety, we also have to take into account the number of school kids each school van should be allowed to ferry at a time.

It is not an uncommon sight to see school children being crammed into school vans like the proverbial sardines in a can and we wonder when the Government will wake up to the need to restrict the number of children each van can carry at a time.

At this point we would also like to question what all the other moral guardians are doing. Given their penchant for demonstrating their concern for the betterment of society as a whole, we wonder why this point has not crossed their mind.

Or are we waiting for a disaster to happen ?

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