When Mumbaikars were busy planning for Dussehra festival, 22 of them did not see the dawn of Dussehra as they died in a deadly stampede which took place on the foot-over-bridge of Elphinstone, prior to the festival. It proved as a black day for the ones who fell prey to the rumours. However, it is a sad state that, this unfortunate event, awakened the railway minister Piyush Goyal who approved the construction of additional foot-over-bridge and for the same tenders are invited. Around INR 9.5 crores will be spent for the additional foot-over-bridge.
In the last few years, Elphinstone and the vicinity have commercially developed and so has the footfall. However, the narrow bridge of Elphinstone could not bear the crowd which led to the stampede which claimed 23 lives. However, Railway Pravasi Associations’ were demanding for the expansion but it was falling on deaf ears. On November 9, tenders will be invited and then final tender will be finalised.
Railways will do the audit of all railway foot-over-bridges. On Western Railway, there are 109 FOBs and on Central Railway there are 134 FOBs. Apart from this, other repairs will also be carried out to improve the travelling.
Share
Tweet
