TIME: 8:20 PM
DAY: Friday
PLACE: Platform No 8, Kanpur Central Station
WHAT HAPPENS when one informs the police (GRP station at platform no 1 in this case) that the dead body of an old man is lying unattended on platform no 8? The cop on duty directs you to inform the station master so that he issues a memo to the GRP station. Only then will anyone be sent to attend to the matter.
And if you decide to follow the directives of the cop, you are sure wasting your time! Reason: The concerned railway official will give you a patient hearing but do nothing.
This conclusion was reached because no official reached at platform no 8 to attend to a dead body till about 9.35 pm on Friday.
As the hustle-bustle started before the arrival of the 4 LKM at platform No 8 for Lucknow, a handful of people encircled the half-naked body of an old man, probably in his late seventies, lying unattended on the platform. Probably a beggar, was the common thought as the crowd dispersed with the arrival of 4 LKM announced.
This correspondent, who was also at platform no 8, made inquiries and blatant laxity on the part of the GRP station and Kanpur Central Station came to light.
The body was lying at the same place when he had arrived in the morning at 11.30, revealed a daily passenger commuting between Lucknow and Kanpur.
{{/usCountry}}The body was lying at the same place when he had arrived in the morning at 11.30, revealed a daily passenger commuting between Lucknow and Kanpur.
{{/usCountry}}The fact was corroborated by a vendor at the platform. However, he said: “Bhai kyon tension le rahe ho ye station hai yahan bhikari aise hi dum todte hain aur koiee dhyan nahi deta (Why are you making a fuss, this is a station, here beggar die like this and no one pays any attention).”
Just beside the body was a tea stall selling eatables without probably knowing that eatables could get infected as the dead body had been lying there at least for over nine hours.
This correspondent then decided to inform the GRP anticipating that they might not have information. But the reply was : “Go straight to the station master who will then issue a memo. Only then someone will be sent to attend to the body.”
This correspondent then informed a bearded railway official in the SM’s chamber about the GRP guidance. However, till 9.35 pm the dead body of the old man lay unattended.
When SSI Lajja Ram Yadav, in-charge, GRP police station, in the absence of Inspector PK Misra, was contacted today, he said that GRP received the information between 11 pm and midnight. When told that this correspondent informed the GRP at 8.20 pm, Yadav smiled away the answer. The man was a 75-year-old beggar who could not be identified, said Yadav.
Isn’t there too much apathy and indifference in this world?