Mumbai: Separate protests over the Elphinstone Road station stampede and a change in the suburban railway timetable affected peak-hour services on the Central and the Western Railway lines on Tuesday.
Workers of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) staged a rail roko at Kalwa railway station. “At around 9 a.m., the protesters halted a train for about five minutes before they were cleared. The agitation was against the death of 23 people in the Elphinston stampede. The Central Railway services were disrupted for nearly 10 minutes,” said a senior railway official.
On the Western Railway, passengers came onto the tracks as a change in the timetable ensured that a particular train did not halt at Jogeshwari station.
“The passengers were upset about the change in the timetable and the Goregaon train did not halt at Jogeshwari. Angry passengers protested at the station master’s office. The RPF was sent to control the crowd and the train services were disrupted for 10-15 minutes,” said an official from the Western Railway.
NCP MLA from Mumbra, Jitendra Awhad, said, “Despite several reminders, the Railways has turned a deaf ear to the commuters’ woes. Rising fatalities and the hardships are due to the failure of the Railways in catering to the rush-hour crowd.”
Mr. Awhad said over 20,000 passengers have lost their lives in the last five years because of the poor infrastructure of the Central and the Western Railway. “Over 3,000 passengers have died only in the Thane-Kalwa section, which is known as a killer stretch. I want to know what the Railways is doing to save the precious lives.”
Meanwhile, Shilpa Vishwakarma (19), a daily commuter, who managed to escape the stampede with injuries, claimed that the incident was the result of a misunderstanding of a man carrying flowers.
Ms. Vishwakarma, who was on her way to Vile Parle for her engineering entrance test, said, “I was in the middle of the bridge when the stampede occurred. A bag of flowers being carried by a man fell, and he immediately muttered 'majha phool padla' (my flowers fell) in Marathi. Hearing this, someone from the crowd misunderstood it and shouted that ‘pul padlaa’ (bridge fell), and the crowd instantly started rushing towards the exit.”
Ms. Vishwakarma managed to exit the station staircase with the help of some people, who also helped her get home safely.
She later received a compensation of ₹50,000 after she contacted the Western Railway.