Santacruz bridge shut, near-stampede at stn
MUMBAI: A stampede-like situation was witnessed at the middle foot overbridge (FOB) at Santacruz railway station on Wednesday morning, owing to the shutting down of a bridge on the south end of the station.
To manage the situation from getting out of control, the Maharashtra Security Force (MSF) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) were dispatched at the station.
The bridge, managed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), was shut on Tuesday for repairs.
It is likely to be reopened in November. However, the Western Railway (WR) has allowed pedestrians to use the bridge till then.
Following the situation, a meeting was held between the Government Railway Police (GRP) officials and RPF personnel, wherein a plan was charted out to divert the public, use barricades and deploy of additional staff at the bridge.
Sanjay Mishra, divisional railway manager, WR, said, “Segregation of commuter traffic will be undertaken on the bridge. A plan has been chalked out.”
Neha Singh, an Andheri resident, said, “The situation was pretty bad. The crowd just kept on increasing. I heard a personnel telling another to open the shut bridge and divert the crowd. Thankfully, a stampede did not occur.”
This is the second such incident to take place on the WR this year. On July 24, a stampedelike situation was caused at Lower Parel station, after the shutting down of the Delisle Road Road over Bridge (ROB).
On September 29 last year, a stampede on the foot overbridge at Prabhadevi station claimed 23 lives.