Stampede at New Delhi station not the first time
The stampede which led to the death of two persons, including a woman and a boy, bore an uncanny similarity to another incident six years ago when four women and a teenaged girl were killed on the New Delhi railway station during the Chhath rush. Though the railway officials maintained that people were deployed to prevent anything untoward, it appears that the authorities were yet to devise ways to deal with overcrowding and heavy rush at the stations.
On November 13, 2004, four women and a teenaged girl were killed when a huge surge of passengers wanted to get down to platform No. 3, but a stampede broke out as a woman fell down leading to others falling over each other. The incident occurred when there was heavy rush of passengers due to Diwali, id and Chhath Puja, all falling within close succession.
In Sunday’s incident too, it all began when a woman tripped over on the over-bridge following the confusion about the change in platform at the last minute.
Northern railway spokes-person Anand Swarup told this newspaper that during the extra rush, the railways deployed not only home guards, but also the non-operational staff and also takes the help of scouts and guides to keep the situation under control. “We even deploy the children of railway employees, who are free during their summer vacation, to help us during the rush,” said Mr Swarup.
On Sunday’s incident, Mr Swarup said the initial confusion was a result of the change in platform of Sapt Kranti Express but it was not that people had to cross over to another platform. “Platform No. 12 and 13 are on either side of the same ‘island’. But the stampede broke out because a woman tripped over on the stair-case,” said Mr Swarup.
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