Disaster after disaster: Who is accountable?

It was meant to be a week when the Narendra Modi-led NDA government would celebrate its 11th year in power with the signature 'band, baaja, baraat' media hype that has been its forte. And yet, for once, even the astute headline management skills of the government's cheerleaders couldn't detract from the awfulness of the breaking news in the second week of June: at least 270 people died in the worst civil aviation disaster in this country since two planes collided mid-air in 1996. That the Air India flight 171 crashed just outside Ahmedabad in Gujarat, the home state of the government's Big Two, perhaps makes the tragedy even more poignant. Far from celebrating a political party milestone, the nation was united in grief.advertisementWhile it is premature to speculate over the causes of the crash – various aviation 'experts' in TV studios have proffered different theories – the crash has triggered a renewed debate over air safety. While official data suggests India's safety track record is at par with global standards, there are enough reasons for concern. A Tata Group-run Air India management still coming to terms with the fact that running a legacy airline is not quite the same as managing a steel or any other consumer business; Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company that finds itself under scrutiny once again; the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) whose supervisory and regulatory powers over a rapidly expanding sector will come under the scanner; the Adani group which manages and operates the Ahmedabad airport will also have to provide answers.advertisementJust to give context. A parliamentary standing committee report on MOCA in March this year pointed out that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was operating with 53% of its sanctioned posts vacant, while the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has a vacancy rate of 35%. The government's ambitious UDAN scheme aims to connect 120 new destinations, but its budget has been slashed by 32%. While the number of airports has nearly doubled in the last decade, the amount being spent on maintaining safety standards lags behind. Which raises a big question: will a horrific air crash change anything on the ground? The black box and flight data recorder may provide more clues as to what happened for a Dreamliner plane to explode into a fireball just seconds after take-off but will the inquiry be fair and transparent in revealing the truth given the mighty stakeholders involved?
Which brings one to ask a critical question: is there any ACCOUNTABILITY in our system to ensure responsibility is fixed on key figures in a time-bound manner? Just look at the series of events in a disastrous month of June that still has some days to run.On June 4, just a day after the IPL final, a stampede in Bengaluru during the victory celebrations of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru left 11 people dead, many more injured. The rushed event was organised despite the fact that the police had not given the required permission. With back-to-back events being organised at the Vidhan Soudha and Chinnaswamy Stadium, the police was overwhelmed by the surging crowds. A public spectacle for a privately-run franchise's triumph was given priority over the urgent need for public safety. Instead of accepting responsibility, the faction-ridden Congress government in Karnataka has busily disowned its culpability. Bengaluru's top cop has been suspended while no politician who happily posed with the star players has been held to account.advertisementOn June 9, four people died and nine were injured in a rail accident in Mumbra near Mumbai. The commuters fell onto the tracks while they were standing on the footboards of overcrowded trains. People hanging by the door in peak hour crowding is not new with a sharp curve along the Mumbra track making it even more hazardous. While a Central Railway committee is probing the incident, the underlying causes of a shambolic public transport system in a megapolis like Mumbai remain unaddressed. Is the creaking suburban train system suffering from neglect as alleged by commuter organisations while the private car traffic whizzes by on a shining coastal road?advertisementOn June 16, a bridge collapsed near Pune due to overcrowding amidst heavy rainfall, leaving four people dead and several more injured. The 30-year-old bridge was deemed 'unsafe' but, despite red flags being raised by locals for several years, a work order for the construction of a new bridge was delayed and reportedly issued only five days before the collapse. Approval of Rs 8 crore for a new bridge was given last year, but bureaucratic red-tapism meant that it was all too late to avoid a tragedy. Yet again, Maharashtra's BJP-led ruling alliance politicians have fulminated and promised action, only presumably until the next bridge collapse serves as another wake-up call.On June 15, seven people died when a chopper flying from Kedarnath temple to Guptkashi in Uttarakhand crashed in the forest. Worryingly, this was the fifth such incident in just six weeks in the area, raising questions over the feasibility of helicopter services in inclement weather in the mountains. Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami has promised to put in place a Standard Operating Procedure while the DGCA has assured extra surveillance. Once again, a case of too little, too late.advertisementIndeed, the chronology of each such tragedy follows a familiar pattern. Little attention is paid to adhering to strict safety norms in a characteristic 'chalta hai' attitude. Rather than focus on the rigors of daily governance, priority is given to the optics of political grandstanding. More fast trains are flagged, more airports are commissioned, more tourist sites are created, more glitzy sports celebrations are organised.Building a Viksit Bharat by 2047, as envisaged by the Modi government, is a noble aim. Yet, the grim reality on the ground often doesn't match the dreams being spun in the air in a nation of 1.4 billion people. And then, when every now and then, a rickety bridge collapses, a stampede is caused by mass hysteria or there is a rail or air accident, those in positions of power are the first to shrug off their responsibility. After all, in almost all instances, it is the faceless, anonymous Indian who pays with their lives. Unless there is a fundamental change in approach that places a premium on accountability above all else, we will simply lurch from one disaster to the next. Because in India, if there is one sport that we deserve an Olympic medal in, it is 'passing the buck'.advertisementPost-script: Ironically, just a few days ago, a BBC investigative report exposed the truth of the Mahakumbh stampede deaths in January this year. Officially, the UP government claimed 37 people died, but the detailed BBC investigation found the number was at least 82. If we lie about death, what price is there for human lives?(Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist and author. His latest book is 2024: The Election That Surprised India)(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Tune InMust Watch

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