Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Rail tragedy

Sir, — The one visible feature of media coverage of the Rajdhani accident was the way newscasters raised questions. The first to reach the site of any accident, road or rail, are the inhabitants of the nearby villages. Police, ambulance and medical staff reach much later. The best efforts on every one's part would have enabled medical relief to reach the spot only after four hours of the accident. One only wishes that mediapersons were aware of this.

Another disturbing feature of the media presentation was the eagerness to know the cause of the accident and the unseemly debate that followed. Information about the cause of the accident does not in any way mitigate the tragedy. A person who lost his near and dear ones is least bothered to know whether the accident was caused by sabotage or bridge collapse. Even if the prima facie cause of the accident was known, it was premature on the part of the powers-that-be to air their views.

M.V. Srinivasan,
Secunderabad

Sir, — In your Editorial, "Politicising a tragedy" (Sept. 12), you speak of the ease with which the fish-plate nuts can be removed. But one has to only watch two or three gangmen together operating a heavy-duty spanner to tighten the screws to understand that unscrewing is no joke. Another fact that appears to have been overlooked is that on all trunk routes, the rails have been welded as one continuous length from station to station.

V. Krishnamachari,
Mumbai

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