On September 29, a day now labeled Mumbai’s Black Friday, 22 persons died and scores seriously injured in a stampede that broke out on a overcrowded inadequate Railway Over Bridge at Elphinston Road station.
Everybody now acknowledges that it was a disaster waiting to happen.
For years concerned citizens, Corporators, MLAs, Parliamentarians were appealing to the authorities to build a new broader railway overbridge so as to cope with the increasing traffic on the local railway.
Unfortunately no one bothered to address the pleas of all concerned until disaster struck.
It is suspected that a loud sound, perhaps a short circuit and one person falling triggered the panic and the stampede. Although the funds for construction of a new railway bridge had been sanctioned two years ago, due to lack of concern, no action was initiated and it is only after the catastrophic loss of lives that within 24 hours, the tender for the new railway over bridge was been issued.
If only authorities had acted in time earlier, many lives would have been saved.
Similarly, in the port town of Vasco, every year around the month of August, when a commercial fair is permitted to occupy and blockade the main streets and pavements of the town, citizens fear that it could be yet another disaster waiting to happen.
More than 1,000 stalls are erected out of highly-inflammable plastic sheets and paper that block the main roads and the pavements. All these stalls are illuminated by, perhaps, illegal and uncertified electrical connections.
There are food stalls cooking and preparing dishes under the plastic sheets on open gas appliances. Just one short circuit or a spark could trigger a fire that would rage through the highly-inflammable stalls in minutes, leading to a disastrous stampede, which would be aggravated by the fact that all exits in the area are either barricaded or occupied by stalls and vendors.
Indeed such disasters have taken place with sickening regularity at commercial fairs and melas around the country.
For several years now, concerned citizens of Vasco have been pleading, with the authorities, without much success, to shift the commercial fair to open spaces such as sports ground at Chicalim or open area around Ravindra Bhavan, in the interest of public safety.
Fortunately, in Margao and Panjim, due to strict court orders the fairs have been shifted from the city centre to the outskirts or open spaces.
I would like to request authorities in Mormugao to open their minds and eyes, bearing in mind the tragic incident which took place in Mumbai to place citizens safety above the lure of lucre??
