BMC changes site for new Currey Road FOB

After the Elphinstone stampede mishap which killed 23 people and left many other injured on September 29, 2017, the Indian Army has been roped by the Railways for the construction of narrow foot overbridges (FOB) of Elphinstone station along with other two for Currey Road and Ambivali railway stations.

However, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) raised objection on the design drawn by the Army for the FOB construction at Currey road station and therefore, an alternate place at Godrej Gaslen for exit point has been suggested, which has been approved by Railway and Army officials on Friday in a meeting held with the Additional Municipal Commissioner (AMC) Vijay Singal.

According to the design made by the Army for the construction of the FOB bridge earlier was ruining the the BMC Recreational Plot (RG). According to Kishore Desai, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of Currey Road (F south ward), “Recently, (few months) only the RG plot was renovated and total Rs 3 crore. The design given by the Army was taking away the public amenity. Hence, an objection was raised.”

In addition, AMC Singal stated that already in Mumbai the public parks and gardens are few. “A meeting with Army and Railway officials was held and an alternate location for the construction of FOB was taken in consideration. Construction work of the FOB on the suggested alternate route would start soon,” he added.

He further revealed that the suggested alternate place for FOB exit point would also disperse the Currey Road and Chinchpokli crowd merging at Lalbaug lane. During the Ganesh Festival the crowd in this area is more, therefore, future mishaps like Elphinstone stampede can be avoided.