Law should do
justice to accident victims
Human error and
negligence cause accidents. But most of the accidents owing to collapse of a
structure under construction are owing to failure
to adhere to safety norms and the deviations from standard operating procedures
by the builder. Attempts by representatives
of the builder to first suggest it was an “act of god”, hinting perhaps that it
was the result of an unexplainable disaster, are just to evade responsibility for a disaster brought
about by criminal negligence and wanton disregard of safety norms. If proper
precautions are taken such accidents are entirely preventable.
When an
accident takes place, the government should take corrective measures and ensure
an impartial investigation into the cause of the accident. To say that the
builder had been blacklisted does not absolve the government of its regulatory
and monitoring responsibilities. Those guilty
must be made to stand trial for their acts of omission and commission, and not
just the private builder for the seemingly gross negligence.
Accidents are
not unfortunate incidents beyond human control, but man-made tragedies that are
wholly avoidable. When they do occur, accountability must be clearly fixed.
For that matter
any accident will be because of poor construction by construction company, lack
of supervision by authorities (government). This is like aimless chase. If you
zero down to construction company the MD will put the blame on site supervisor;
he will pass the blame to head worker, who will ultimately say workers did not
take care. It is a triangular responsibility viz.,the polity, the bureaucratic
and the contractors. The execution of the government project is monitored at
all levels irrespective of the time criteria and who was in power.
In man-made
tragedy, accountability is a crucial concern. Building collapse, bus accidents,
derailments, boat capsizing, fire in buildings and what not accidents are there
always. Only thing is the place of occurrence changes from time to time. As and
when something happens we appoint a commission and in a short time the incident
fades away from the memory of the common man, the reports appear and find its
final resting place in the cold storage. The pangs of the innocent lives so perished
remains the reminder of such tragedies. Once we go deep down in to the root
cause of such accidents, there is one thing which commonly surfaces in the open
– i.e. the lackadaisical attitude of individuals who find monitory gains even
at the cost of precious lives more important to them than anything. Stringent
measures against the guilty is the only solution to fix the issue.
The time is
running out for our country to have a merciful relook at ‘accidents’ which
happen and incidents in which loss of lives and property are caused by gross
negligence on the part of those who ‘cause’ them, which cannot just be brushed
aside as human error. Several categories of accidents include road and rail
accidents, building collapses, workers dying due to neglect of safety
requirements, death or health hazards caused by pollution and so on.
In many cases,
the rich individuals or powerful government cover up criminal and tort
liability by delaying or denying legal remedies or even insurance claims by
using money power or ‘authority’. The victims or their survivors, in most cases
are not in a position to fight and win cases in courts. In certain situations
like accidents on roads and death by fall from Mumbai suburban local trains,
sometimes even the bodies are not identified. Law need to be more considerate
to accident victims.
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