Reflections | 12 deaths every day on Mumbai’s tracks should wake up New Delhi
While Modi plans a multibillion-dollar bullet train, the 7.5 million people who commute by Mumbai trains every day are tired of the government’s murderous neglect
Twenty-three people were crushed to death last week in a stampede that was triggered by the simple fact that the tight coil of people that snakes in and out of Mumbai’s Elphinstone Road Station by way of a cramped pedestrian bridge paused for a few minutes.
It was the day before a long weekend that would start with the culmination of a nine-day annual religious festival to mark the triumph of good over evil.
Many of those hurrying to the office at 10:40am were dressed in finery that day and hesitated at the exit, reluctant to step into the sudden downpour of rain. Those few minutes proved fatal and caused a deadly crush that left 23 dead and more than 39 injured.
This terrible human tragedy in India’s financial capital is the consequence of outdated infrastructure and poor planning that lags far behind the changing contours and needs of the city.
Mumbai is a narrow strip of seven connected islands, inadequately linked to the vast hinterland. Over the past 60 years or more, successive governments have deliberately failed to build more connectors in the fear that decongesting Mumbai might lower property prices, which are among the highest in the world.