Time, it is said, is a great healer. I wonder if time will ever dull the pain and anguish of those who have lost their near and dear ones to the tsunami. As the enormity of the disaster slowly unfolds, one thought that comes to mind is that 2004 has been a year of tragedies. However, while the latest one was a natural disaster, where perhaps the magnitude of the tragedy could have been reduced with an early tsunami warning system, the other tragedies witnessed during the year were all purely man-made. In fact, sheer negligence by service providers was the cause of all other tragedies that occurred during the year.

Take the Kumbakonam school fire that started from the school?s make-shift kitchen and spread to the entire building, burning to death nearly a 100 school children.

Just a month prior to the Kumbakonam tragedy on July 16, a falling boulder led to the derailment of the Mangalore-Mumbai Matsyagandha Express. Only the previous year, a similar accident had resulted in the death of 52 passengers travelling by the Karwar-Mumbai Holiday Special on the same route, putting a question mark on the safety of that route during the monsoon. Obviously, the railways did not take the necessary precautions and the passengers paid the price. Again, in the second week of December, the head-on collision between the Ahmedabad-bound Jammu Tawi Express and a local train took a heavy toll. Thirty seven passengers died and 55 others received injuries.

Year after year, we witness boat tragedies, yet the administration makes no effort to render this mode of transport safe. In June 2004, a boat ferrying 50 pilgrims capsized in Gomti river in Uttar Pradesh, resulting in the death of over 30 passengers. Then, between June 28 and July 4, as many as 34 infants died at the capital?s Safdarjung hospital. Here, the negligence seemed not so much on the part of the doctors as the government, which had failed to provide essential medicines, intravenous fluids, and other life saving equipment at the paediatric ward.

Not surprisingly, one of the orders of the apex consumer court delivered this year was also on the violation of the consumer?s right to safety. Holding the Airports Authority of India liable for the tragic death of young Jyotsna while coming down the escalator at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on December 14, 1999, the apex consumer court directed AAI to pay the rupee equivalent of 2,50,000 French francs along with 10 per cent interest, to the girl?s parents.

If only the government and the service providers learn from the mistakes of 2004,we might have a safer 2005!