Elphinston Railway foot over bridge stampede The tragedy has snuffed life of 22 travellers and maimed scores of others that could have been avoided .The alarm bells sounded ,red flagged several times went unheard since Nov 2016. The letters, complaints, suggestion were ignored and sidestepped for want of funds on this very issue. 106 years foot old , only bridge has suffered structural stress and overdue for its replacement even without the tragedy of stampede. The BJP and Shiv Sena are playing blame shifting game . The allotted funds for infrastructure have been bogged down by unresponsive bureaucracy bungling over priority. Chalta hai attitude has been usual response. The frequency of trains has exhausted time gap, due to demand outstretching safety norms. The rush at peak hours on only foot bridge is tremendous due to several locals descending at the same time. There is absolutely no monitoring of safety at rush hours or spacing of trains to avoid the mad rush of commuters forced to use it . A middle divider could control the stampede, The two way bridge for up and down could also serve as a control of some sorts Besides the nuisance of hawkers occupying scarce space goes overlooked under the nose of railway security staff. The CTV should have highlighted the rush at peak hours .But who cares to watch and initiate actions, Simply summarizing the new foot bridge should have been in place or in planning and executing stage
Only a tragedy awakens our leaders and few days later when the emotions, cries die down the situation is back as usual’ All the immediate steps will be delayed with reasons till another day of similar or worst tragedy. In stead of debating about the tragedy and how it could have been avoided. The best alternative is immediate action to plan and construct wide and double foot bridges to meet the growing demands of users We rae more enamoured over bullet trains in stead of common man travel railways Nelson Lopes Chinchinim