Foot Over-bridge Collapse: Why Don't You Work With Each Other To Take Stock of Matter, Bombay HC Asks Rlys, BMC

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday questioned the BMC and Central Railways as to why the two agencies do not coordinate with each other and work together.

A division bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Nitin Jamdar questioned both the BMC and Central railways regarding the recent foot-overbridge collapse near CST station in Mumbai that killed six people and injured 31.

On September 29, 2017, a stampede took place at Elphinstone bridge in Mumbai which killed over 25 commuters. A couple of PILs were filed after the said stampede seeking better safety for local train commuters because in both the incidents, commuters were the ones who lost their lives and suffered injuries.

The court made the above observations while hearing these two PILs.

Counsel for Central railway Suresh Kumar submitted that the recent foot overbridge collapse was a lapse on the BMC's part. To this, the court replied-

"There is no point in blaming anyone now. It seems apparent that such accidents continue to happen because agencies do not coordinate with each other. Both the agencies have all the technical expertise; you claim to conduct audits. But why don't you coordinate with each other? Why don't you conduct joint meetings to take stock of the condition of all existing FOBs, safety measures, etc?"

Chief Justice Patil went on to say- "Bridges collapse, accidents take place, people die... but nothing is done. This is despite claims of regular structural audits."

Earlier, a PIL was filed by advocate VP Patil who blamed the BMC for this recent FOB collapse and demanded Rs.1 crore as compensation for families of the deceased victims. He also sought a compensation of Rs.25 lakh for the injured victims under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, as against the Rs.5 lakh in compensation for families of the dead and Rs.25,000 for injured victims announced by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.