Yesterday, Mumbai witnessed a horrific tragedy when a stampede occurred on the Elphinstone Road foot over bridge. Survivors from the stampede have revealed that there was a rumor of a short circuit. A few others explain that the people on the bridge were moving at snail pace due to the heavy rains and crowd.
Some of the commuters have said that some of the people on the bridge were in a rush and joked that the bridge might collapse leading to the mass panic. Officials are investigating to find out the ones behind the rumor.
The stampede resulted in the death of 22 people and injured 35 of the commuters.
Recent reports reveal that Former Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had sanctioned a sum of Rs. 11.86 crores to construct a new foot over bridge at Elphinstone railway station.
Shiv Sena MP from Mumbai Arvind Sawant shared a letter on Twitter addressed to him and dated back to February 20, 2016.
The letter was sent after Arvind expressed the issues of having a narrow bridge that nearly 1 lakh people cross every day.
The letter read, “It has been one of the toughest years for the Indian Railways because of the adverse effects of the global slowdown. Even in these challenging times the following Railways works in your constituency is under our positive consideration.”
The former Railway Minister also considered extending the bridge by 100 meters to the north side.
The letter further stated, “Elphinstone Road construction of 12 m wide new FOB (Foot Over Bridge) connecting western railways and central railways after extension of platform number 1 and 2 towards north side by 100 meters.”
It was reported that the construction of the new bridge would be done between 2016 and 2017.
Reports are yet to reveal why the project was never put into action.
Reply from @RailMinIndia on 20 Feb 2016 stating dat they’ve positively considered my demand for #Elphinstone Road new FOB Construction.. pic.twitter.com/ahlCHiKQwU
— Arvind Sawant (@AGSawant) 29 September 2017
