DNA In-Depth: No respite after Elphinstone stampede

A year later; nothing much has changed for the 77 lakh daily commuters using the suburban local trains in Mumbai. They still hang by the foot board, push and nudge as they struggle to enter the coaches and walk haphazardly on foot over bridges. But there are some things that has changed in the last one year - exactly a year ago 23 people died in a stampede at Elphinstone Road (now renamed as Prabhadevi) railway station - lives of the families of the victims and the working of Indian Railways.

Meet the family of Mayuresh Haldankar, who fell victim to this stampede and was among those 23 people who died. For this family residing in BDD chawl, Worli; a year later, everything has changed. His father Prakash Haldankar still sits in the narrow corridor of this chawl missing his young son who died in the stampede. On September 25, the family of Mayuresh Haldankar, performed rites marking one year of his death anniversary (as per Hindu calender). Prakash and his family members who deeply miss the young man; are still recovering from the shock.

Prakash Haldankar, who works as a housekeeper staff in a small scale industry, said, "Our family lost a young son. Besides the compensation amount of Rs 10 lakh, the railway authority had assured to give a job to his elder sister but nobody contacted us again". With a heavy heart, the family still remembers every moment of that day when the family first saw chappal of his young son outside the postmortem department of KEM Hospital after which they dreaded the outcome. The family is angry as no one -- be it the local politicians, railway administration or any authority came for emotional or monetary aid. "Its been a year, no one really came forward to help our family. Now we need our own space to recover," said another family member.

Without an iota of question, every family could be undergoing the same pain. On ground, this stampede proved to be a wake up call for the Indian Railways and Maharashtra government who decided to mark a difference. The bigger picture shows that the metropolitan city is climbing vertical due to lack of space, horizontally.

High Rises In Mill Land

Soon after the incident, the Union Railway minister Piyush Goyal held a marathon meeting where slew of measures and changes were talked about. On September 28, a year after the stampede occurred, he again came to Mumbai for reviewing the works. "I sympathize with the victims. The stampede was an eye-opener for us. Since then we have constructed many FOBs," said Piyush Goyal, union Rail minister who came for visit at Mumbai Central railway station on Friday.

The stampede showed the brutal fact that smaller stations are now catering to huge commercial centers -- offices, shopping malls, fancy restaurants are now situated in plenty in skyscrapers. Take for instance the areas in and around the railway stations of Prabhadevi, Parel, Lower Parel and Currey Road sees over 5 lakh people coming there everyday.

These were historically mill lands which after becoming defunct; was sold off to developers who have now constructed towers and skyscrapers. There has been continuous growth in the number of daily commuters coming to these stations. Despite real estate prices hovering at Rs 40,000-50,000 per sq.feet; buildings are climbing vertically. The recent closure of Delisle bridge connecting Lower Parel and Currey Road stations for vehicular traffic has worsened the situation.

The stampede triggered the reaction from the rail administration to transform the system and make it better. The Western and Central Railways conducted audit of all 136 railway stations on the suburban system to find flaws and rectify it. The Rail ministry went on an overdrive in adding several more FOBs, escalators and lifts at stations. They also simplified tendering procedure whereby they have awarded within 3 hours of opening.

"Over the years there has been rise in population coming to work in stations like Lower Parel and Prabhadevi. There are several offices and colonies that have cropped up and so looking at the future demand, we are constructing 12-meter wide FOBs," said Anil Kumar Gupta, General Manager, Western Railway.

Both the railways together constructed a new 12-meter wide FOB connecting both Prabhadevi-Parel stations, within a span of one year. They also widened the FOB on Prabhadevi end where stampede occurred and provided additional stairway. The ticketing counters were demolished and rebuilt away from the entry/exit points to provide ample walking space. At Lower Parel, a new 10-meter wide FOB is being built that is expected to be ready by December 31.

At Parel, the north end FOB which was connecting only one side, was extended by taking help from the Bombay Sappers of the Indian Army. The Army was roped in to construct three FOBs namely at Ambivli, Currey Road and Prabhadevi-Parel. When these three FOBs were ready, earlier this year, Railway minister Piyush Goyal agreed that the reason for involving the Army was to trigger the rail authorities to go on an overdrive.

Railways Forced To Transform — Faster

Several audit teams were created for inspection of flaws in the system. The audit teams comprising of 150 members from Indian Railways, Police and various civic authorities from Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivali and Vasai-Virar came together for the inspection of railway stations between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)-Karjat/ Kasara/ Panvel and Churchgate-Dahanu sections. They identified commuter movement, footfall at stations and accordingly came out with solutions.

Post audit, several decisions on overall improvement were taken. These included removal of food stalls near FOB landings, removing benches from platforms, clearing unwanted structures and debris, widening the FOBs and its staircases wherever possible, clearing hawkers from FOBs and entry/exit points and new FOBs, escalators and lifts. This was namely to remove obstruction and free movement of commuters. A single multi-specialty stall will now be seen at every station.

In the last one year, all three agencies of Western, Central Railways and Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) started constructing additional FOBs. "The decision to include FOBs in safety category was a game changer thereby paving way for construction on war footing," said Sunil Udasi, Chief PRO, Central Railway.

In layman's language this meant that FOBs were no longer a passenger amenity - something that railways can do away with if not needed - and were considered essential for safety of passengers. This change in the policy led to exponential increase in number of FOBs built all around the city.

"On an average we were finishing work on 2-3 FOBs annually. However after the FOBs became part of safety category, we can complete an average of 9-10 FOBs each year. In fact at Tilak Nagar we finished a FOB is record 75 days. We are also carrying out trespass control work worth Rs 200 crore," said R Khurana, Chairman and Managing Director, Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation.

The WR aims to complete 33 more FOBs while CR claims to complete 40 more FOBs within the next one year. Subodh Jain, former Member with Railway Board said: "After the Elphinstone Road stampede, the issue of FOBs caught attention from the top management in rail ministry. There has been a paradigm shift as FOB became part of safety item".

These measures have no doubt improved condition of railway stations in Mumbai, but a lot more needs to be done and fill the lacuna.

Vox pop 

Samit Kokate - Parel - Works in a private firm near Masjid Station - Travels to Parel to meet clients - Mulund Resident - Age 31

“There is hardly any difference in the crowd, the only difference is that there is police to control. I have heard of instances of robbing while waiting in the queue to climb up to the bridge. I mostly travel in the morning, and the crowd keeps on increasing as trains keep on coming one after the other. Masjid station however is worse off, a rumour could easily set off a Elphinstone Road-like stampede there on its narrow bridge.”

Sarah D’Souza - Parel - Works at a private firm in Vashi - Parel Resident - Age 20

“It does get crowded on the old bridge and sometimes there is a queue to get to the platform but it never felt unsafe to me, the police presence now is also reassuring. Presently I use the newly opened bridge, which is quite spacious and is mostly unused. And there are signs put up on the platform encouraging passengers to use alternative bridges and those not in a hurry often use them. The bridge built by the Army however sees limited use.”

Shubham Yerudkar - Currey Road - Student - Lalbaug resident - Age 20

“The new bridge is really helpful atleast for me, as it is close to my building. But the office-going crowd still goes to the old ramp at the north end of the station, and it gets crowded there. But after the Elphinstone road incident there has been police presence and they ensure that no one lingers near the narrow entrance to the station. Also during Ganpati this year, the new bridge built by the Army proved convenient for the crowd which comes for the darshan of Lalbaug cha Raja. And even on the main ramp there was crowd control in place and bamboo sticks were in place to mark entry and exit routes.”

Shweta Rane - Currey Road - Works at a private firm in Lower Parel - Thakurli resident - Age 25

“There is not really any difference in the crowd. As most offices are in the Lower Parel stretch, the main entrance to the station from the ROB continues to be crowded. However with policemen and women controlling the crowd there is nothing to be worried about. It is difficult to expect change immediately but atleast precautionary measures are in place. I found the middle bridge convenient to reach my office, so that is how I avoid the crowds.”

Atharv Sakre - Prabhadevi - Student - Theatre enthusiast - Borivali resident - Travels often to Elphinstone for theatre practice - Age 19

“The crowd is considerably lower in the morning hours rather than the evening hours. It is quite a task to climb down the stairs in the evening. There are policemen to control the crowd that provides safety but no comfort. One positive change is that the ticket counter has been shifted below the bridge, that reduces the crowd on the bridge.”

Suchita Gandhi - Prabhadevi - Housewife - Postal Small Savings Agent - Grant Road resident- Travels to Prabhadevi area to meet clients - Age 49

“I mostly travel in the afternoon to avoid heavy crowd after last year’s incident. And even though it is not very crowded every time I use this bridge (where the stampede took place) I am reminded of that day and feel a little apprehensive. At times when I use the Dadar station, the situation is worse even in non-peak hours. The police keeps on whistling and the people keep on pushing."

Raveena Sangle - Lower Parel - Works at a private firm in Lower Parel - Goregaon resident - Age 21

“I have never faced heavy rush at this station except for a couple of days when the Delisle Bridge was closed. After it was opened for pedestrians the crowd is normal again. I use the new bridge which is quite convenient and isn’t crowded. The only concern is that there is no ticket counter either on the bridge or below, that is a major inconvenience to those who use this bridge.”

Suraj Chougule - Lower Parel - Lower Parel resident - Age 23

"The situation was not as worrisom as Currey Road or Elphinstone Road even before the new bridge but there was quite a scene on the day Delisle Bridge was closed to public. The new bridge is wider and not far from the old bridge and will be useful when the Delisle Bridge will be demolished."