Cruel Inaction

 

Some twenty five years ago a student travelling by a private bus in Kottayam fell off the bus suffering fatal injuries.  People were very sad reading the tragic news. As usual the news papers were full of discussions, allegations, counter arguments etc. After a week or so, my son, then a small school boy ran to me with that day’s news paper in his hand. He was very happy and told me that such accidents will not be repeated as the government has made it compulsory for buses to have doors that can be closed and opened. I was not any enthused as I was sure that things will be as usual after a month or so. But I was really surprised to see buses fitted with doors within the time allotted to them by the government. So finally the government is acting with an iron hand, I thought. Things went well for a month or so. Suddenly the bus-operators invented a new method to overcome the ‘brutality’ of the government. They all heeded to the government’s instruction by fitting doors.  The government had not asked them to keep the door closed while the bus was moving. They kept the door always open by tying it to the body of the bus, and as usual the government did not see this for long until, I think, the court intervened.

I thought of this when the food inspectors all over the state have suddenly sprung into action after some fatal food poisoning incidents. They pulled the shutters down on innumerable restaurants all over the state. They suddenly pulled out hundreds of kilograms of decayed chicken from the freezers. They, in their new found enthusiasm, found that the food served in many restaurants were not fit for consumption.  Kudos for the bravado of the duty bound food inspectors. But where were they when rotten food was pushed down the throat of hapless unsuspecting  consumers. Aren’t they answerable for their inaction? The news papers carry stories of the pyrotechnics by the food inspectors. But this time my son did not run to me with the news paper, because now he not a boy but a man in his early thirties.