Between 2007 and 2013, over 500 rail passengers died between Borivli and Bhayander, but their families were denied compensation on technical grounds—travelling on footboard, committing suicide, etc.
As per the statics and data available with Soumaya Bahadur, convenor, Aam Aadmi Party, at Mira Road alone, between 2007 and 2013, there were 510 cases of people dying while travelling in suburban locals between Borivli and Bhayander.
Bahadur said: "The fact is that railway authorities only focus on revenue and not on improving travelling conditions. When it comes to compensating victims, they come up with excuses like the "dead person was travelling on footboard", etc. They even make false statements, that "the passenger committed suicide" or "attempted suicide".
According to commuters travelling between Borivli and Bhayander, the commuting conditions are so bad on this stretch that there is no space to enter the compartment and people have no option but to travel standing on the footboard.
To an RTI query, a railway official had said: "Present resources do not permit us to introduce any new service from Bhayander due to path and track capacity constraints." They, however, want to focus on the Borivali-Churchgate sector.
"If there are so many deaths on this portion of the Western Railway, they should focus here instead of some other location. Rail officials have said that due to encroachments near Dahisar and political pressure not to clear them, their hands were tied and they could not improve the travelling conditions," added Bahadur.
AAP has started sending post cards to the victims of rail accidents to assist them in their cases. The party is contemplating filing a public interest litigation on the issue.
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