Life as I find it

Speechless at the moment. I don’t know how I feel about this right now. While it is true that discrimination by the government and police against the minorities needs to be fought, I’m not sure that the accused in the bomb blast case are what we would be looking up to as model, upright citizens either. I can’t believe that all of them are innocent either.

Fighting for people who have been victims and targets of the state is admirable, considering the amount of fake arrests and accusations we see happening recently, but again, is this about a fight for justice and rights, or a general support system for anyone accused? Because then, this could turn into trouble with time. Also, why a political group? This seems to be more of a human rights issue, which could even garner support across political parties rather than focus on creating a party of victims that the normal public may not identify with, or even want to identify with.

Anyway, read this article that I’m quoting from here, and see what you feel:

Mumbai, May 15: Even as the Tada court prepares to pronounce the sentences of those convicted in the ‘93 blasts case, those accused in the case have decided to float a political party called the Dalit Muslim United Front. Mustafa ‘Majnu’ Dossa, an accused, whose case will be tried separately, has been declared party president. He is currently lodged in the Arthur Road Jail.

Haji Gulam Rasool Ehtesham, who has been held guilty by the Tada court, is the ad-hoc secretary. The court is yet to announce the quantum of his punishment. And the party vice-president is Salim Shah, who is also an accused in the case.

The party will primarily consist of those accused in the bomb blasts case. However, Mustafa Dossa’s advocate Parvez Alam, the main objective of the party is to fight for people who have been victims of state oppression and state terrorism. “Our party will fight for people who have been victims and targets of state and its establishments,” Alam said.

A majority of the party workers will be those who are accused in the bomb blast case. “Even those who have been acquitted have promised to be a part of the party,” Alam said.

Alam also said that during the just-concluded state assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, their party workers had distributed more than two lakh pamphlets urging people to support Mayawati. “The fact that Mayawati has been elected, has led us to believe that people heard our plea,” said Alam.

The final decision to float the party was taken at Arthur Road Jail on Monday evening. “We will first set up our office and gather our team members and then we will approach the election commission to formally register our party,” said Alam, adding that the party is also in dialogue with several Dalit leaders who have been to jail in the past.

The party also plans to meet Mayawati. “There are a few people in UP who wish to be a part of our party and are also close to Mayawati,” said Alam.

The party’s immediate plan is to contest the local elections in Mira Road.

Planning to keep an eye on this and decide with time if this is what we need, or another bunch of unrespectable people trying to have political clout in the country.

I read an article on the NDTV site which says there is the possibility of a hike in train fares in Mumbai, which would bring the average Rs30/- minimum fare for first class to Rs.32/-. The added funds from this hike will be used to support the loan taken from the World Bank by the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation - the agency executing the Mumbai Urban Transport Project. The amount of the loan is Rs.1,300 crore which is half the project cost.

This will mean an added expense to commuters, but will help repay the loan faster. Mumbai locals are an extremely convenient and fast system of transport for the middle and lower classes, and this hike might casue some concern to people who rely on the locals for quick and inexpensive transport. However, the amounts recovered and repayed will be quite huge considering the amount of people using the service, even though the individual difference will only be a couple of rupees. Ticket sales are expected to jump to Rs. 1080 crores per year from the Rs.900 crore that is currently the number.

I had brought this up in an earlier forum, where I had suggested a hike in prices for adding security measures to the railway system. While repaying the loan is a priority, with the recent bomb blasts and overall trend for terrorists to target public transport, it is becoming a matter of urgency to increase monitoring and block access tothe system from unofficial points of entry. I don’t know how much a communter either knows or bothers about loans from the world bank, but this surely would have them happy to pay a rupee or so in addition to their normal ticket price.

Suggestions from some of the members on the discussion forum included:

• Isolation of railway tracks by the construction of boundary walls
• Blocking of all access to the railway system except official entrances and exits
• Camera surveillance on trains, platforms, ticket counters, and entrance and exit points
• Metal detectors and other security measures at entrance and exit points
• Training of all staff to handle emergencies related with terrorism

It sounds like a phenomenal expense, but I doubt if it is impossible in reality. It is not as expensive as the development of railway tracks, or rakes. I think these are all very good suggestions and could gradually be covered with a rupee or so added to the price of every ticket. It wouldn’t be instantaneous, but the funds would surely flow to tackle one thing at a time steadily and then cover their maintenance as well later.

Perhaps, even extra funds from a station could directly be put to use developing that station, resulting in the more important stations naturally being protected first through their higher sales of tickets and greater number of commuters requiring greater security. It would mean other useful things as well. Helping investigate pick pockets, eve teasing, damaging railway property or spitting/littering, etc. It would undeniable make the railway experience cleaner and safer while requiring less personnel to monitor more factors. This could get our outstanding, but shabby service to admirable standards while setting a standard for public cleanliness and security for other areas of public life.

I feel that paying a rupee or so more would be a very worthwhile investment for something like this and people would participate willingly for something that directly adds to their experience rather than vanishes into a loan they are hardly aware of, even though that money needs to be recovered somehow.

I guess this is still a distant dream, but it doesn’t stop me from wishing that a hike in fares actually meant something to ensure my safety as well, even if it means a hike of two rupees in stead of one.