Railways need more Samaritans! Sameer Zaveri, a rail accident victim, has been saving lives time and again on the railway tracks

By Pradeep Gupta

Understandably, there was a huge emotional outcry for those who are died in the terror attacks in Mumbai, but there is another space where similarly gory deaths occur, but the news doesn’t make the headlines. Terrorism, and fighting it, is big on the international agenda, but there is no agency fighting for the poor passengers of Mumbai’s suburban local trains where, on an average, 15 people lose their lives daily.

Mumbai’s population of around 1.25 crore has not brought out even one single person to fight for these innocent victims of Mumbai’s lifeline, except a handicapped good Samaritan, Sameer Zaveri. A safe and secure journey for the 75 lakh passengers is the foremost on his mind.

Sameer Zaveri, has been on a special mission of saving lives for over a decade. Improving the security and the safety of passengers has till date saved over 5,500 lives by sending the accident victims on the tracks to the nearest hospital in time. However, as per the records, around 5,000 commuters die every year in different accidents on the tracks of Mumbai.

According to Sameer, Mumbai attracts people from every nook and corner of the world for employment and livelihood. They all find the train as the cheapest and fastest mode of transport to reach their work destination. While commuting in the crowded trains, some of them die after falling while boarding or falling off running trains, getting hit by poles while hanging outside the doorways, getting run over while crossing tracks, etc. Over 70 per cent of those injured take their last breath on the platforms, thanks to the inhuman attitude of the railway officials, who don’t feel any need to follow the rules to save lives.

There have been numerous incidents when injured passengers’ have had to wait for as much as two hours just to get a stretcher and ambulance to take them to the hospital. In many cases, the dead bodies have remained on the tracks for hours with trains passing repeatedly over them. In the absence of ambulances and coolies, the bodies have to be taken on hand carts. The GRP officials say that they are not at fault as they are not provided with the necessary facilities from the railway department. They don’t even get the amount of Rs.750 per dead passenger from the railways, so they have to pay for the expenses of taking the dead to hospital and completing the last rituals from their own funds.

Recently, Justice Swatantrakumar of the Mumbai High Court passed an order, while hearing the petition filed by Sameer Jhaveri, advising the railway authorities to start a pilot project at Dadar station, keeping an ambulance as well as two doctors for their treatment on standby.

Sameer says that the Mumbai police have their own website to display the pictures of unidentified dead bodies, so that relatives of the victims have at least a chance to claim and finish the last rites of their dear ones. The railway department however doesn’t have any such facility. Sameer has written to the railway administration requesting that it create a website to display pictures of rail victims. Sameer has also filed a petition for the same in the High Court.

A K Sharma, Government Railway Police Commissioner, said, “I cannot make any comment on the railway department but yes, following golden hour rules can definitely save many lives. Sameer Zaveri’s job is really commendable as he is fighting for the cause of the general public. We need more of such people.”

Story Of Sameer Zaveri...

At the age of 18, Sameer lost his legs after being hit by a train while crossing the tracks at Borivli in the absence of a Foot Over Bridge. Two unidentified people took him to the hospital and his life was saved. However, though he couldn’t meet those people again in his life, he realized that without their help he wouldn’t be alive.

As others had saved his life, he decided to save others’ lives. After his recovery he was provided with the Jaipur foot to walk. Later on, he also started visiting hospitals and distributing the artificial feet to them. Till now he has distributed over 5,500 such artificial feet to accident victims.

His efforts have been noticed by various NGOs and he has been awarded the Best Samaj Sevak Award by the former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. He has been sent to various countries by the Lions’ Club to address social service organizations. He has also shared stages with several business tycoons like Mukesh Ambani, Kumar Magalam Birla and Ratan Tata too.