Barbarism of Indian Railway

These pictures are of the Railway Stalls at Shyamnagar Station, which I believe most of you have seen while travelling. Although many of you may not know that these shops have been forcefully shut by the Railway authority around three weeks back.

To find the route behind the arbitrary decision of the Railway authority, we have to wind back to 2002 when the Rail ministry first passed the law which entitled them to claim any unprecedented amount of fare from the railway shops/ vendors.

And ever since the operation of uprooting the railway stalls began by our government. Many of the vendors opted to take the help of law, as it was an inconceivable fact for them to fulfill the demand of Railway. Here it is noteworthy that neither Rail has ever provided electricity nor there was any provision of drinking water in those Railway stalls. Everything was done till date by the vendors by giving money to the non-governmental local authority to supply the same.

Given the above mentioned circumstances one could easily figure it out that without a vacant lend which was even bought by the ancestors of the present vendors, as per the Railway legislation then, the Rail has never extended any kind of cooperation or provision for the progress of those vendors. The Railway, being an integral part of our government and considering the fact that we have a democratic rule in our country, which invariably strives for the upliftment of all backward classes as per the constitution, some humanitarian activity or decision was highly expected from the Railway department. But very unfortunately quite adverse to such expectation the railway board prescribed some unprecedented amount from those shops as the fare. It is needless to mention that these shops are only the source of income for the owner but all other workers associated with it.

For an example the two stalls of Shyamnagar, which were the means of earning source for more than ten people (worker) and their families, were charged around 15 Lakhs rupees for 8-10 years by the Rail. That means around 10 thousand per month. Now doesn’t it seem that considering the financial condition of a place like Shyamnagar it was really an arbitrary decision of Railway?

I would also would like to enlighten you on the fact that these vendors were very much interested to come to a conclusion where railway can also be profitable from those shops but the fare that railway was going to impose should be reasonable for both. These vendors had also applied to the High court about the same but very unfortunately our rigid law system doesn’t have time to deem all such fact and thus, the Judge delivered his verdict against the helpless vendors.

While there are so many political leaders illegally occupying government’s lands, ignoring all kinds of rules, hawkers at stations or roads are running their business with the help of the ruling party, and people staying at railway slams are also getting so much sympathy from the general public, despite the fact that most of them already own a separate building. It was only the helpless Railway vendors who intended to continue their business obeying all the rules of Governments were displaced and pushed into an uncertain future.

Many of you may not be aware of the fact that such inhuman decision of Railway authority of Eastern zone has caused many vendors to commit suicide and while few lost their mental balance due to the trauma. To find the reality of my statement one doesn’t have to quest far, as the owners of Barrackpore stalls Platform no.1 and 2 committed suicide and lost mental balance respectively.

While, the government is striving for economic growth and struggling to create employability for its citizens and besides, the matter of great concern that is our GDP is losing its growth and going backwards, our government are featuring every possible means to paralyze the economic system.

As I have mentioned above that it has started long back thus, I have no such intention to blame the present government for everything. But that doesn’t even make them innocent, since being the head of the country for last five years they must have settled all the loopholes brought about by earlier governments. Nonetheless, without doing any such productive act they sought to easier ways for the popularity of their government. I feel truly ashamed and vulnerable too that I am into this system, which is so rigid and lopsided.

I hope that soon our government and Railway board will amends for their earlier mistakes and contemplating the fundamental principal of our constitution, which is to save its citizens and ensure their growth in all spheres of life and equilibrium the financial aspect of its citizens with creating maximum number of job opportunities the present government will enact necessary law to maintain a good governance in the state.