Mumbai: People pay tribute to victims on first anniversary of Elphinstone stampede

People in Mumbai on Saturday paid tribute to the Elphinstone stampede victims on the first anniversary of the incident. A foot overbridge (FOB), connecting the Parel-Elphinstone Road stations, collapsed at the suburban Elphinstone Road station in Mumbai in September 2017, killing 23 people.

In October 2017, at least 23 people were killed in the stampede and over 30 people injured. In videos from the incident, people could be seen trying to climb over the railings of the stairway to escape the stampede. Commuters claimed that the foot-over bridge at Elphinstone was narrow and always crowded during the peak hours. 

Heavy rain had been held responsible for the stampede.

After recording statements of 30 commuters who were injured in the stampede, the panel, headed by the Western Railway chief security officer, submitted its report to WR General Manager Anil Kumar. It has also examined video footage of the incident, officials said.

According to the report, the cause of the stampede was heavy rains which forced people outside at the ticket counters to rush to the already jammed staircase for cover.

The report said the constant flow of passengers arriving at the station compounded the problem and people with heavy luggage lost their balance.

It also states that none of the witnesses said that a short circuit on the bridge led to the chaos. 

After the stampede, railway officials posted police personnel to manage the crowd on busy platforms, evicted hawkers from suburban train stations and started speeding up infrastructure projects on suburban network.

In February 2018, a new FOB constructed by India Army was inaugurated.

In the winter session of the Maharashtra Assembly in Nagpur on December 16, 2016, a decision was passed to change the name of the station to Prabhadevi. 

The decision to change the name of the station on the Western Railway came into effect in July this year.

The statement said that necessary changes were being made to the station boards, indicators and PA system for the benefit of passengers. The station code for Prabhadevi is PBHD.