Members of affected families should be inducted in railways: Congress on Mumbai stampede

In the wake of the incident wherein 22 people were killed and over 39 seriously got injured in a rush-hour stampede at Elphinstone railway station's foot over bridge, the Congress on Saturday suggested that the affected families could be inducted in the Railways for better safety and security as mere compensation cannot suffice the loss of a family.

Speaking to ANI here, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, "The Government is focussing on the bullet train, on the safety and security by the satellite data, etc but the ground reality is that we are experiencing a dismal performance of the railways. Now a commission will be constituted; report will be given after so many years. Before the submission of the commission's report, a number of accidents will again occur. After this, they will compensate to those affected families, but a mere compensation cannot suffice the loss of a family. The members of the affected families could be trained up so that they are inducted as a regular employee for safety and security of the railway."

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has expressed sadness over the Mumbai stampede, assuring that a strict action will be taken against the culprits.

Earlier, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal assured that all the suburban stations in Mumbai will be inspected within a week.

Goyal said, "Employees of Mumbai Railways have accepted my request to not celebrate Dussehra in the wake of the Mumbai Stampede incident. In the next seven days, all suburban stations will be inspected to identify vulnerable issues; we will speed up work on foot-over bridge (FOB)."

The Western Railways stated a clarification that there was no structural damage in the FOB (foot over bridge) which can be attributed to the stampede.

The Western Railways, in a statement, asserted that there was overcrowding at the foot over bridge due to heavy rains and people panicked on rumours of foot over bridge collapsing.