The Army will help build a new foot overbridge at the Elphinstone Road station by January 31, said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday, as he visited the site of the stampede , along with Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. The tragedy which took place on September 29 killed 23 people.
Mr. Fadnavis told the media that the Army would also build two more foot overbridges at Curry Road and Ambivli railway stations. Ms. Sitharaman said it was probably the “first time that the Army will help build what could otherwise be called civil work.”
“A call was taken to cooperate seeing the urgency of the matter as the Army has its role at the borders. The Army has come and seen, inspected and assessed where the bridge is going to be built. They will be there at every stage of the work,” she said.
After the stampede, railway officials posted police on busy platforms to manage the crowd.
Ashish Shelar, Mumbai unit chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party had met both Ms. Sitharaman and Mr. Goyal requesting them to ask military engineering services to construct the foot overbridges at Mumbai’s railway stations.
“I thank the Army for taking a step for the safety of Mumbai’s commuters. This is a historic moment for the city,” Mr. Shelar said.
The Opposition said that calling in the Army signified the failure of Mr. Goyal in tackling corruption, red tape and babudom in his Ministry.
“The Army is generally called in as the last resort. Looks like the Railway Minister has exhausted all his options and is not able to discipline the Railway babus & rid the railways of corruption & incompetence,” said Mahesh Tapase, spokesperson of the Nationalist Congress Party.
Mr. Goyal had earlier announced a slew of measures for the safety of commuters with a focus on foot overbridges.
