The weekend brought the unfortunate news from Rajkot in Gujarat that 33 people including nine kids have been killed at a fire in a gaming zone that was operating without any clearances including fire clearances.
Even as the news was trickling in, Goa woke up to the news of four labourers being killed after a bus ferrying company staff veered off the road at a sharp turn and crashed into the roadside shanties they were sleeping in killing three on the spot and a fourth who died in hospital.
Besides these two incidents, memories haven't yet faded of the recent hoarding disaster in Mumbai that killed 27 people and of the Morbi beach tragedy of last year which killed 135 people.
All of the above incidents have one thing in common -- they involve the failures at multiple levels but especially a failure to honour safety norms and an unwillingness of the authorities to enforce them.
Such a situation persists simply because those responsible are never held accountable for the tragedy and instead a scapegoat is identified and zealously prosecuted in order to save those who are equally culpable.
In the case of the Verna accident the bus driver and perhaps the contractor who built the roadside shanties will be blamed and prosecuted, while the officials of the GIDC who turned a blind eye to the illegalities will be conveniently protected. In the case of the Rajkot tragedy the gaming zone owner will be arrested and prosecuted while the municipality and State government officials who failed to enforce the norms will go scot free. It's the same story for the Morbi tragedy and the Mumbai hoarding tragedy.
Those in power are only eager to protect themselves and absolve themselves of any blame while continuing to lord over mishap after mishap in which innocent lives are lost. The need of the hour is an effective mechanism in which the victims are able to hold those in charge criminally liable for their acts of commission and omission resulting in the deaths of innocent citizens.
We often hear of stories especially from developed countries in which councils and other local governments and agencies are forced to shell out damages and criminal liabilities running into millions of dollars and are often also held personally liable for failing to adhere to safety regulations resulting in deaths. It doesn't bring back the lives lost, but it certainly acts as a deterrent against allowing establishments to ignore safety norms fearing being bankrupted by having to make compensation payouts.
Back home, the norms continue to be flouted simply because it is known that the state will rather prosecute a hapless scapegoat than turn against someone close to the establishment, allowing the cycle of negligence to continue. The days when those in charge would own up to their failures and offer to resign owning moral responsibility for the loss are long gone.
Only a system of accountability can change that and bring back a sense of responsibility among those in charge. Anything less than that means the circus of deaths and endless trials will continue unabated.
