Mumbai stampede: Rail minister announces new safety measures as death toll rises to 23

The death toll in Friday's stampede on the foot overbridge (FOB) between Elphinstone Road and Parel railway stations in subruban Mumbai rose to 23 on Saturday, even as the newly-appointed Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced a slew of steps to avoid such tragedies in future. 

The stampede, which took place at 11 pm on Friday, had led to the death of 22 people and left 30 injured.

There has since been outburst of anger among people as it surfaced that the authorities had been warned multiple times about the situtation, and spent only a pittance for the repair of the bridge. 

Death toll rises

The death toll in the stampede rose to 23 on Saturday when one Satyendra Kanojia — who had been in critical condition and put on ventilator — passed away at the KEM Hospital in Mumbai.

The Ministry of Railways had announced on Friday an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the deceased, Rs 1 lakh to those grievously injured in the stampede, and Rs 50,000 for those who had sustained minor injuries in the incident. 

This was in addition to the Rs 5 lakh for the deceased announced by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis after the incident. Fadnavis had also announced that all medical expenses of those injured in the incident would be borne by the state government.

Minister cracks whip

Meanwhile, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday announced a slew of fresh measures in light of the stampede. The measures are meant to ensure that there is no rerun of Friday's incident. 

Goyal said after a meeting with top officials in Mumbai on Saturday: "We are turning a 150-year-old convention on its head. Hereafter, FOBs will be deemed mandatory, [and] not a passenger amenity."

He also said on Twitter: "To eliminate bureaucracy and delays, I have empowered GMs [general managers] to spend whatever is necessary on safety."

Goyal added: "Additional escalators [have been] sanctioned at crowded Mumbai suburban stations and thereafter for all high-traffic stations."

The minister also said 200 officers would be be "relocated from headquarters as field staff to strengthen ground operations and project implementation" of Railways.

Goyal added: "Within the next 15 months, CCTV cameras [will be installed] in all suburban trains in Mumbai with monitoring mechanism. Parallel work [will take place] across India."

And finally, he assured fast delivery of services, saying: "Delegation of financial and administration powers to field units [will be done] in two weeks to reduce red tape and push development and delivery."