Mumbai: Commuters have been alerting Indian Railways about the Parel-Elphinstone Road foot-over-bridge (FOB) since last year, but the warnings were ignored completely. Even though the railways have been asking commuters to tweet their problems, no action was ever taken on them.
Cartoonist Manjul had tweeted to the railways on February 1 this year about the crowds at Parel station, which connects with the Elphinstone bridge. “Pre-rush hour Parel station. The only staircase which people use to exit and enter the station. A major accident is waiting to happen,” Manjul said.
Another citizen, Chandan K.K., not only tweeted about the possibility of a stampede in July last year but also sent an SMS to railway minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday.
In the SMS sent, he said, “Another point for follow up at Parel station. It has only one staircase linking it with Elphinstone station. The pressure on it is high during peak hours. Risk of stampede and people falling on the tracks is high. By God’s grace, no mishap has happened but better way to address matter.”
