People and police look on at the site of a stampede that broke out on the Elpistion Railway Station bridge in Mumbai on Friday. PTI The stampede at Mumbai's Elphinstone station on Friday could be dubbed as a result of negligence and dereliction of duty on the part of the authorities as there were several warning signs before the tragedy took place.
Kishor Thakkar, a regular commuter on the route and a witness to Friday's tragedy, said six months ago they had filed a complaint with the authorities.
"We had given a letter to the railway administration six months ago with a request to do something to improve the shoddy state of affairs here," he told PTI.
Several alert citizens of Mumbai had pointed out that such a disaster was waiting to happen. There were tweets tagging the authorities and the then railway minister Suresh Prabhu. The ministry of railways had even replied to one of the tweets.
At least 22 people were dead and more than 30 injured as onlookers watched victims stumbling, falling and piling up along the railings.
People were trapped on the stairs and the decades-old bridge, crammed so tight in the narrow space that several suffocated to death.
If only these warnings were heeded to:
(With inputs from PTI)
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