An official said on Tuesday that the Central Railway (CR) has created holding areas at key stations in Mumbai for the first time as part of crowd management to deal with the heavy rush of people on account of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's 'Mahaparinirvan Divas' this week.
The CR move comes weeks after Bandra Terminus in Mumbai witnessed a stampede when passengers rushed to board a train to head home ahead of Diwali and Chhath festivals. Every year, thousands of people from all over Maharashtra and outside throng Mumbai to pay homage to Ambedkar, who was cremated in the metropolis, on his death anniversary on December 6, which is marked as Mahaparinirvan Divas. The Railway operates special trains to ferry passengers.
Addressing a press conference at CR's headquarters, its chief public relations officer (CPRO), Swapnil Nila, said holding areas have been created at Dadar in open space available between Central Railway and Western Railway lines and Mumbai CSMT station.
"For the first time, we have created holding spaces for Mahaparinirvan Divws. The holding area created in open space between Central Railway and Western Railway lines can accommodate 7,000 to 8,000 people," Nila informed.
Chaityabhoomi, where Ambedkar was cremated, is located at Shivaji Park, less than 2km away from Dadar station, which witnesses a large crowd of followers of the social reformer on Mahaparinirvan Divas and a couple of days before and after it. Since the stampede at Bandra Terminus on Western Railway in October-end, in which around 10 passengers were injured, authorities have started creating holding spaces for better crowd management at major stations to avoid any untoward incidents.
Nila said they have planned separate entry and exit points at Dadar for proper crowd management. "Barricading has been done on Middle Bridge and BMC Bridge for orderly movement of crowds at Dadar," he said, adding as many as 214 banners with relevant information have been displayed at prominent locations at the station for the benefit of passengers.
Besides showing way to Chaityabhoomi and Rajgruh, the residence where Ambedkar once lived and which is now a memorial, the CR has displayed numbers and timings of special trains operated by it near the enquiry office at Mumbai CSMT, Dadar, Thane, and Kalyan stations.
"Frequent announcements regarding special trains are being done through the central system and station-level mechanism," Nila said. The CR is running 16 special mail/express trains from December 4 to 8 to ferry Ambedkar's followers to Mumbai and back home. These trains will be operated to and from Mumbai for various locations like Nagpur, Amravati, Kalaburagi (Karnataka) and Adilabad (Telangana).
The CPRO said the CR's Mumbai division will also run 12 additional suburban trains on the intervening night of December 5 and 6, between Parel and Kurla/Thane/Kalyan on the Main Line and Kurla and Vashi/Panvel on the Harbour corridor. Around 300 additional RPF personnel have been deployed in two shifts at major stations, including Dadar. As an additional security measure, more than 250 Government Railway Police personnel will be on duty at Dadar and more than 80 at Mumbai CSMT, said Nila.
"Special ticket checking squad/staff along with RPF/GRP personnel have been deployed at the train originating stations in front of reserved coaches to ensure entry of only bonafide passengers," he said. The CR spokesperson said to avoid overcrowding, platform tickets are being issued to only select groups of people, including senior citizens and divyangs (persons with disabilities), till December 9 at major stations like CSMT, Dadar, Thane, and Kalyan.