Successive rail authorities have not taken any initiatives to curb stone throwing at trains, which since the railway’s introduction in this region in 1860 by the British, has been the cause of deaths and injuries of passengers and rail staff.
Officials say the matter cannot be addressed by them only and is not even on their priority list. There is also no record or data about the number of deaths or injuries caused by this, which was marked by British rulers as a crime. Even the century-old railway act of 1890s contains punitive measures against adult stone-throwers or parents of their juvenile counterparts.
“Eliminating this trait is not in our hands as we have no sweeping authority to check it. Sometimes, we hold meetings with the local representatives, imams and school teachers to motivate children not to throw stones at the trains,” Bangladesh Railways joint director general (operation), Habibur Rahman, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“However, it [elimination of the problem] is not in our priority as it is not practically possible for us to change the behaviour of the local people living near the tracks.”
However, railway sources say the meetings with local only follow injury or death of anyone important.
Rahman affirmed the claim pointing out that a judge was blinded after being hit in the eye by one such stone while travelling on the Dhaka-Chittagong route in 1998. “Then we had meetings with the local people. Actually, this problem will go on unless people are made aware of the gravity of the problem.”
Rail authorities, in some inter-city trains, urge passengers not to keep windows open, which is futile as they are the only source of ventilation for the passengers. Such announcements are not made in the mail or local trains, putting huge numbers of passengers that board them at risk.
Divisional railway manager of Kamalapur Station, Sardar Shahadat Ali, told the Dhaka Tribune on thursday that the people and rail authorities apparently took the occurrences as granted and normally do not report them unless someone was seriously injured or air-conditioned coaches were damaged.
“So, we cannot maintain a record of the number of injuries or death caused by stone throwing. Many such incidents take place every day across the country,” he said suggesting that railway police with help of local police could raid the areas and take legal actions against the stone throwers or their guardians.
Deputy inspector general of the railway police range, Md Sohrab Hossain, also agreed: “Yes, we can take some step like this [arresting or threatening legal actions against the stone throwers].”
On August 10, a female engineer Preeti Das was killed as a stone hit her head as the Dhaka-bound Turna Nishita train was crossing through Sitakunda, Chittagong. Railway guard Shahabuddin on August 5 was injured in Comilla’s Moinamoti area as a train (721) was crossing. Another guard K Anwar in mid-June received serious head injury as his train was crossing through Comilla.
Shahadat added, “Between December 9 last year and August 10, the railway recorded 25 incidents of stone throwing only in the eastern zone of the railway. The actual number was much higher.”
