Mumbai: The ruling BJP's ally Shiv Sena on Friday dubbed the stampede on a foot overbridge at Elphinstone railway station a "massacre", while opposition parties also hit out at the Central and Maharashtra governments over the tragedy.
The non-BJP parties said instead of pursuing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet bullet train project, the Centre should focus on improving safety of passengers and amenities at stations.
"This incident is a public massacre for which the government and railways are responsible. We have time and again demanded that the old and dilapidated foot overbridges be redeveloped but no action has been taken yet," Sena MP Sanjay Raut said.
"While the government has no time to rectify the shortcomings in the present rail system, it wants to bring in bullet trains," he added.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led outfit is part of the BJP-led governments both at the Centre and in Maharashtra, but has been bitterly critical of them on a variety of issues.
Terming the loss of lives in the stampede as unfortunate, Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan demanded a judicial probe into the incident.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil of the Congress said he had written to the railway ministry last year seeking a meeting of public representatives with the railway minister to solve the issue of overcrowding at stations in Mumbai.
"This incident should be treated as a case of murder.
An FIR under IPC section 302 (murder) should be lodged against railway officials," the senior Congress leader said.
"Had the administration worked towards providing basic facilities to commuters, instead of renaming the railway station (Elphinstone) as Prabhadevi, so many lives would not have been lost," Vikhe-Patil added.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde said the government, instead of bringing in bullet trains at this stage, should focus on developing stations and improving passenger safety.
"The Maharashtra government will give Rs 5,000 crore for the bullet train project. Instead, this money should be immediately provided for the development of railway stations in Mumbai," the NCP leader said.
Sena MP Arvind Sawant said instead of focusing on the high-speed rail project, the government should work towards providing basic infrastructure at stations and put in place a mechanism to control crowd.
The Lok Sabha MP from Mumbai South said he has raised the issue of local commuters' plight from time to time in Parliament. "I have repeatedly requested railway officials to look into the issue, but nothing has happened till now."
"Suresh Prabhu, as railway minister, had announced elevated railway tracks. Where are they?" he asked.
The Shiv Sena MP said several foot overbridges are in poor shape, but nothing is being done to improve their condition.
Sawant also visited the KEM Hospital, where the victims of the stampede were taken.
Mills gave way to skyscrapers, but infrastructure lagged
Mumbai: Once called 'Giran-gaon' or the city of (textile) mills, the area around Elphinstone Road and Parel stations in central Mumbai now has a skyline filled with glass-and-concrete towers, housing swanky offices.
But for thousands of office-goers who alight at these two stations after travelling by trains from distant suburbs, crossing the overbridge which links them and leads out to the glittering business district is nothing short of a battle.
Friday's tragedy was waiting to happen, said a local resident, as at least 22 people died in a stampede on the overbridge linking Parel on the Central line and Elphinstone Road on the Western line of the suburban train network. "There is a war-like situation every day here during morning and evening hours. People fight a war to come out or enter the stations," said Arun Tiwari, regional head of a marketing company. The stampede took place around 10:40 am when the overbridge was teeming with people taking shelter from a sudden downpour.
"Ever since new office buildings have come up in the area, the crowd has increased many times, but nothing has been done to improve the infrastructure at the station. Who is responsible for these deaths?" asked Tiwari, who lives nearby.
"This was waiting to happen. Such things can happen on other (railway) footbridges too," he said. Echoing him, Satish Paul, a daily commuter, said, the number of people who alight at the two stations has increased phenomenally but infrastructure has not kept pace. He said Infrastructure should be strengthened and basic amenities improved to avoid such disasters in future.
"When I alighted from train, I saw people screaming, piled on one another (on the overbridge). People are in a rush to make it to the office on time for fear of salary getting deducted, so they hurry, putting their lives at risk every morning," said Ravindra, a real estate agent.
For Anita and Babita Kamble, sisters who live in the railway quarters near the overbridge, a spurt in noise outside this morning seemed routine.
"It was around 10:30 am when we heard people screaming. We thought it nothing unusual, as the station is chock-a-block during office hours. But in no time the crowd outside our house swelled. When we came out, we saw people piled on one another on the bridge," said Anita. Local people ran to their help before police arrived, she said. The number of commuters who alight at these two stations has grown exponentially because of the new offices in the area, she said.
After the textile mills closed down one by one in the 1980s and 90s, skyscrapers came up in the Parel area, housing offices of multinationals, banks and media firms.