A rail mishap turned him to activism

Samir Zaveri has been to hell and back. The commuter activist, who has filed several public interest litigations and who has been active in saving lives of commuters, saw his world come crashing down after a railway accident about 13 years ago.

“I was hit by a train on August 26, 1998, while crossing near Borivli and I lost my legs. I owe my life to two men, who within five minutes rushed me to the Bhagwati Hospital, about 4km away,” he said.

But others weren’t so supportive. After he lost his legs, his employers and his fiancé, who was also a distant relative, turned their backs on him. “No relatives or friends stood by me during this difficult time,” he told DNA.

Zaveri, however, lives by the motto ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’. In time, he got himself a pair of Jaipur feet, married and has two children now.

Zaveri now fights for rail accident victims.

He is making sure that those hurt on railway tracks are given immediate medical attention. In 2008, he filed a PIL in the Bombay high court, following which India’s first emergency medical room was set up at the Dadar station last March.