Poulomi Saha | Edited by Dev Goswami
New Delhi, September 29, 2017 | UPDATED 18:36 IST
The Parel-Elphinstone foot-over-bridge in Mumbai is incapable of handling rush-hour Mumbai local crowds - that is what a Shiv Sena MP told the Railway Ministry two years ago.
'This was an accident waiting to happen'. That was the most common refrain among Mumbaikers on Twitter after a deadly stampede on a foot-over-bridge connecting Parel and Elphinstone suburban stations killed at least 22 people (read our live coverage here).
Little did those citizens on Twitter know how close they were to the truth. Documents accessed by India Today show that the Ministry of Railways was warned that the Parel-Elphinstone bridge was not wide enough to handle rush-hour Mumbai crowds.
The ministry was told about this in 2015 - a full two years before today morning's deadly tragedy on Mumbai's suburban railway service.Two Shiv Sena Members of Parliament, in separate, letters warned the Railway Minister that the Parel-Elphinstone bridge was incapable of handling passenger traffic.
Responding to one of the MPs, the Railways Ministry, under 
Suresh Prabhu moved a proposal to construct a new foot-over-bridge at the Elphinstone Road railway station. The new bridge to connect Elphinstone Road on Western Railway to Parel on Mumbai's Central line would have been 12-meter wide, documents accessed by India Today show.
The proposal for the new bridge was mooted in 2016 and was stuck in the tender process.
MPs, PEOPLE WARNED ABOUT BRIDGE
Arvind Sawant, a Shiv Sena Member of Parliament, had red-flagged the issue of the foot-over-bridge at Elphinstone Road being incapable of bearing the burden of the burgeoning passenger footfalls.
Sawant had requested that a new 12m wide foot-over-bridge be constructed at Elphinstone Road station to connect the Western Railways station to Central Railways' Parel.
Local commuters in Mumbai too had warned of an impending stampede at Elphinstone Road thanks to the narrow foot-over-bridge connecting the railway station to Parel.
@sureshpprabhu@narendramodi Is central mumbai station 'Parel' awaiting a stampede? pic.twitter.com/hMhUm4wgJ3
- Chandan KK (@CKSquare) July 28, 2016
Rahul Shewale, another Shiv Sena MP, too had warned of the same. Shewale, in a letter dated April 2015, demanded that the Elphinstone-Parel bridge be widened to accommodate the heavy flow of passenger traffic.
Shewale's letter, which India Today has accessed, was received by the Railways Ministry in may 2015.
PRABHU RESPONDS
Suresh Prabhu, who was until recently was the Minister of Railways, responded to Sawant's letter on the state of the Parel-Elphinstone bridige, India Today was able to confirm.
India Today accessed a letter written by Suresh Prabhu in his capacity as the Railways Minister on February 20, 2016.
In his letter, Prabhu said the Indian Railways was facing one of its toughest years due to adverse effects of global slowdown.
"Most of the requests which are received reflect the genuine needs and demands of the people and it is always our endeavour to agree to many requests as possible. However, sometimes due to the paucity of finances, operational constraints or other compelling circumstances agreeing to the request may not be possible," Prabhu wrote.
While the then Railways Minister did not explicitly say so, it was clear that he said that Sawant's request that a new foot-over-bridge be built at Elphinstone Road station could not be fulfilled due to lack of funds.
Prabhu added that "even under these challenging times [your request] is under our positive considerations".
WHAT HAPPENED?
At around 10.40 am today, the Parel-Elphinstone foot-over-bridge in Mumbai was heavily crowded. People were standing on the Parel-Elphinstone bridge waiting for the rains to stop.
The unceasing rains resulted in hundreds of rush-hour commuters piling on without anyone leaving the foot-over-bridge that connected the Elphinstone and Parel suburban railway stations.
Suddenly a woman standing in the front row slipped on the rain-drenched stairs. Three-four others commuters also slipped and this led to a pandemonium, first on the Parel-Elphinstone bridge, and then on the Elphinstone Road station.
This snowballed into a a stampede, that ultimately killed more than 20 people and injured another 30.
Police suspect that a short-circuit with a loud sound near the foot over-bridge created panic causing the first few victims slip causing alarm and people started running as if to escape some calamity.
(This story has been updated to reflect that the Ministry of Railways had moved a proposal in 2016 to construct a new foot-over-bridge at the Elphinstone Road railway station)
