Elphinstone stampede: Goyal chairs emergency meet, gives agencies a week to resolve issues

Following the stampede on a foot overbridge at Mumbai's Elphinstone Road Station, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal held an emergency meeting with officials from the ministry on Friday.

At least 22 people were killed and 39 others were injured in a rush hour stampede on a foot overbridge (FOB) connecting the local railway stations of Elphinstone Road and Parel in central Mumbai Friday morning.

The ministry has issued a slew of directives, including upgrading CCTV systems, resolving pending issues and sorting out space constraints at all stations.

Goyal has directed multidisciplinary audit teams to inspect all suburban stations within one week and identify areas of concern. All pending work on footover bridges (FOB) are to be completed, while additional FOBs will be planned at others stations where passenger traffic is high.

Further, he has given all agencies, including the BMC, MMRDA, CIDCO and the state government, a week's time to resolve all pending issues. It has also directed officials to identify critical locations prone to similar situations and draw up actions plans for them.

Earlier on Friday, Goyal announced a high-level enquiry into the incident and an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh to those injured.

OneIndia News