THERE can only be numbness but no surprise over the Amritsar train tragedy. A day that sets off a season of festivals and joy left a bitter taste as the sun came down. The Ravana effigy burning was one among the countless set off all over the country. There must have been near-escapes elsewhere but at Joda Phatak in Amritsar, our proclivity to stretch the boundaries of safety did us in. People around the effigy started retreating as it was lit and jostled with another crowd standing on the railway track when two speeding trains from opposite directions ploughed into them.

The railways’ bane has been ribbon development or the building of houses close to the track. As shanties grow in size and develop into vote banks, there is frequent trespassing of track, leading to over 15,000 deaths every year. It is no wonder that the railways is reluctant to classify the deaths of people hit by trains while crossing the track as accidents because stopping people from crossing it in built-up areas — an offence — is impossible. The Modi government had announced a Rs 50,000-crore plan to eliminate all level crossings. Though delayed, it builds on the work of the previous administrations and could pare the death toll somewhat. But as long as we retain the predilection for jaywalking — crossing communication track with no regard for traffic — similar tragedies will keep happening.

Noted nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar had identified lack of barricading, fencing and pedestrian overbridges for the heavy human death toll on railway track. In Haryana, Bansi Lal had earned unpopularity but gratitude as well by clearing the highways of ‘ribbon development’. Today, this is the norm for all highways, which has cut down the death toll. Such a drastic measure along the track will cause displacement and misery. While the Amritsar civic administration should meet its just deserts, the tragedy ought to be the trigger for rapidly enforcing several such measures that were abandoned or unimplemented because of local resistance.