After 23 innocent people lost their lives in a horrific stampede at Elphinstone Station bridge on 29 September, MNS chief Raj Thackeray took out a Santap Morcha (anger march) to protest the state of the city's railway stations on 5 October. He led the protest march from Metro Cinema to the Western Railway headquarters.
Raj demanded that the Western and Central Railway administration clear hawkers from stations and foot-over bridges on both lines within 15 days, and warned that on the 16th day, the MNS would take it upon itself to do so.
Raj's warning appears to have been taken seriously enough by the concerned Railway Police or Railway Protection Force (RPF) for them to take action very next day — 6 October. Now the bridges and walkways near railway stations like Dadar, Elphinstone, Kurla, Parel, Bandra and Andheri are free of hawkers, who used to cause obstructions to the movement of commuters up and down the bridge.
Below are a set of images from some of Mumbai's railway stations that are now hawker-free:
Published Date: Oct 10, 2017 01:15 pm | Updated Date: Oct 10, 2017 01:15 pm
