Nagpur: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is conducting an inquiry into why bodies of the Elphinstone Road railway station stampede victims were numbered on their foreheads by doctors, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
He also said an internal inquiry by the Western Railway (WR) had absolved its officials of blame for the tragedy on September 29, in which 23 people died on a narrow Foot Overbridge (FOB) connecting platforms to the street outside. “As per the report received from WR, it conducted a high-level inquiry into the incident. None of its officials were found guilty in their report,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
Photos of the bodies released in news and social media had led to public outrage, with doctors attending the emergency situation at the BMC-run KEM Hospital being accused of insensitivity. At the time, Dr. Avinash Supe, Dean, KEM Hospital, had said it was part of standard procedure in emergency situations. “Some people may have found it insensitive and we apologise for this, but the need of the hour was to streamline the identification process in a mass disaster. Often, bodies are tagged or numbered on the cheeks in such tragedies,” Dr. Supe had told The Hindu on September 29.
Mr. Fadnavis, who submitted written replies to questions related to the stampede from 39 MLAs on the second day of the winter session, said a proposal is being put together to remove unlicensed shops and hawkers outside railway stations in the city. This, he said, will reduce congestion, and chances of similar incidents recurring.
He said the Central and Western railways have built new FOBs at at Bandra, Borivali and Virar stations to avoid crowding. The WR will be constructing a new skywalk and 10 FOBs on the Western Line, and 21 bridges will be replaced. “Additional security has been deployed to streamline commuter flow at 52 stations on the Central Line.”
