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By:

Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Deadly Commute

Mumbai has always taken pride in its local trains, which have been celebrated as the city’s lifeline. It has long been a democratic institution that carries millionaires and labourers alike, and a symbol of the resilience that Mumbaikars so often boast about. The brutal murder of a 22-year-old passenger inside a moving local has exposed a darker reality. The city’s most cherished public service is no longer merely overcrowded and uncomfortable but is becoming steadily unsafe. The victim,...

Deadly Commute

Mumbai has always taken pride in its local trains, which have been celebrated as the city’s lifeline. It has long been a democratic institution that carries millionaires and labourers alike, and a symbol of the resilience that Mumbaikars so often boast about. The brutal murder of a 22-year-old passenger inside a moving local has exposed a darker reality. The city’s most cherished public service is no longer merely overcrowded and uncomfortable but is becoming steadily unsafe. The victim, travelling in a first-class compartment of a Churchgate-Nallasopara fast local, became embroiled in an argument over whether the train door should be kept open during heavy rain. The disagreement escalated into fatal violence after the accused pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the abdomen. As blood pooled on the floor of the compartment, passengers merely stood there watched in horror. A video of the aftermath showed the alleged killer walking away with the weapon in hand without anybody stopping him. For years, a rough but effective social order prevailed in the Mumbai local train. While commuters may have jostled for space and exchanged harsh words, there remained an unwritten code of conduct for keeping outright criminality at bay. Mumbai’s trains have long been dangerous in one sense. Every year, hundreds die while crossing tracks, hanging from footboards or falling from overcrowded coaches. But passengers rarely feared being murdered inside the compartment itself. S Even more troubling was the reaction of those present. The footage suggests that dozens of passengers chose self-preservation over intervention. While few citizens would willingly confront an armed attacker, the images nonetheless reveal a growing atomisation of urban life. Millions travel together every day, but increasingly as strangers who feel no responsibility towards one another. Mumbai’s famed collective spirit has now become a slogan repeated only after disasters rather than a reality visible in everyday life. The authorities, too, have questions to answer. How did an individual carrying a knife manage to board and travel through one of the busiest suburban rail networks in the world? Why does visible security remain so sparse despite years of promises about surveillance, modernisation and passenger safety? The Railways have invested heavily in technology, announcements and infrastructure upgrades. Yet commuters continue to encounter inadequate policing and an absence of deterrence. The larger concern is cultural. Across India’s cities, there is evidence of rising public aggression. Minor disagreements increasingly escalate into violence. Road-rage incidents, neighbourhood disputes and social-media-fuelled confrontations frequently end in bloodshed. Patience, compromise and restraint appear to be in retreat. Mumbai likes to imagine itself as different from the rest of India. The local train murder suggests otherwise. A city is judged not by its skyline but by the safety of its ordinary spaces. When passengers can no longer assume that they will return home alive from a routine train journey, something fundamental has gone wrong.

Tadoba tiger reserve attracts rare birds

Mumbai: Grassland bird species are thronging the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Maharashtra's Chandrapur in the natural meadows created due to the relocation of six villages from its core area, an exercise which began 19 years ago, as per officials.


The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has taken up a conservation breeding project focused on restoring some of the endangered bird species in Maharashtra, including the Lesser Florican that has been sighted in and around TATR in the last three to four years.


The Mumbai-based wildlife research organisation is currently assessing the potential of the tiger reserve, located in the Vidarbha region, for the conservation project, especially post-relocation of villages.


Talking to PTI, BNHS director Kishor Rithe described TATR as one of India's most successful and biologically rich tiger landscapes.


Spread over 1,700 square kilometres, including buffer and 625 sq km core area, the reserve is home to more than 100 individual tigers, making it one of the most important conservation landscapes in central India, he said.


The reserve is characterised by dense bamboo dominated forest, rich prey base and a network of perennial water bodies which offer ideal conditions for the survival of tigers, Rithe said.


The process

After the relocation of half-a-dozen villages from the core zone, a process which began in 2006, an area spread across 926 hectares, which once comprised settlements and agriculture fields, has now turned into meadows, where there is no presence of human beings or domestic animals, he said.


"The village relocation was done to provide inviolate areas for tiger breeding. Tiger recovery has certainly been recorded, but we have also found the recovery of grassland bird species. Apart from Lesser Florican, there are Yellow-Wattled Lapwing and Painted Sandgrouse in the newly-developed grasslands. This is a positive sign and good indication (of birds making the area their home),' he said.


According to Rithe, the Lesser Florican inhabits dry grasslands and scrublands. It has also adapted to some agricultural landscapes having short crops. It often lays eggs on ground and feeds on insects, seeds and berries.


Sufficient grass or crop cover is vital in its breeding season. The endangered bird, limited to pockets in a few states, is at risk due to vanishing and deteriorating grasslands, he pointed out.


After the relocation of villages from the core of TATR, plant species, palatable and non-palatable grasses have regenerated, the BNHS director said.


Plant species

Leguminous plant species like Rantur, Ranmethi, Ranmoog and Ran Udid have also regenerated in the core area.


The TATR administration, under the guidance of grass expert Dr G D Muratkar, has grown grass plots in the area and propagated the same, the official informed.

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