Heroes

By:A double amputee fights suburban railway corruption with Gandhian gumption.Samir Zaveri is not a popular name in the administrative corridors of Mumbai’s suburban railway offices. To be fair to the officials, they have reason to resent the 41-year-old. Zaveri is responsible for the suspension and dismissal of more than 50 Railway Protection Force (RPF) officers and railway officials son charges of corruption, at least two CBI inquiries and endless RTI queries, all leading to embarrassing consequences for the body that runs an urban railway network with the highest passenger density in the world.It’s also one of the deadliest, with more than 36,152 deaths recorded between 2002 and 2012. Sipping chai at his home in a middle-class business district of south Mumbai, Zaveri quotes Mahatma Gandhi: “Never let the railway authorities rest in peace, send in complaints wherever necessary, never resort to bribes for obtaining comforts, and never put up with infringement of rules.”The double amputee’s crusade for commuter rights began on a wet evening in 1989 when he missed his step while crossing the tracks at Borivali. The resident of Patan in Gujarat who had moved to the city as an 18-year-old to join his uncle, a diamond trader, makes the tragedy sound matter-of-fact. “It took me just three months to recover,” he smiles. A trip to JJ Hospital assured him prosthetic feet from the Jaipur Foot Foundation, with which he learned to walk in 21 days.Zaveri is part of a shameful statistic. Close to 10 people lose their lives every day on the city’s suburban railway network, ironically called Mumbai’s lifeline. Seeking out the injured, befriending them in the handicapped compartment of local trains, informing them of their rights and connecting them with counsellors took up most of his time. That’s when he wasn’t waiting for hours to get an appointment with RPF and Government Railway Police (GRP) officials to discuss the urgency of medical facilities in the ‘golden hour’ (within one hour of the accident). “I’d get no response from them, except mocking,” says Zaveri, who now works as a stock market analyst.He decided it was time he was heard. In 2008, he filed a Public Interest Litigation highlighting the need for a medical emergency centre supervised by a doctor, and a round-the-clock ambulance service at stations.His efforts led to the establishment of a medical centre at Dadar station in 2011, where over 1000 commuters received first-aid in the first year itself. In March this year, the Bombay High Court directed the Railways to consider setting up similar centres at other suburban stations that had witnessed over 100 deaths in the last one year.In the last few years, Zaveri has turned his attention to corruption within the Railways. One of his biggest wins came in 2010 when he exposed a fake bail bond scam run by RPF officers at Kurla. A ‘court’ headed by a constable posing as a magistrate was issuing fake bail bonds to let off ‘offenders’, and pocketing the fines. His PIL in the High Court led to a CBI raid, following which 14 RPF officers were sacked.Counter complaints, fake cases of abduction and death threats have come Zaveri’s way, but he’d dodged it all. Which is why he prefers Gandhi to Bhagat Singh. “Both were fighting against the odds, but Gandhi’s satyagrahi ideology enabled him to serve the country for longer than Bhagat’s extremism.” How have his wife and kids managed to cope? “I don’t tell them about the threats,” says a straight-faced Zaveri.MumbaiPart of Mumbai Mirror’s 8th anniversary celebrations, the Heroes campaign looks beyond everyday do-gooders and simple acts of kindness. This initiative will honour people or institutions that have decisively - and positively - changed Mumbai for the better. If you know a hero, tell us about them @ mumbaimirror.com/form.cms