2 WR commuters killed on tracks on day of strike

Mumbai: A teenaged boy and a young woman, commuters on Western Railway (WR), died on Friday, the day the WR motormen's agitation brought trains to a grinding halt for almost four hours. 

    Nearly 32 lakh commuters travel every day by the WR suburban network between Churchgate and Virar. The abrupt suspension of services—officially between 3.30 pm and 4.30 pm—led to crowds swelling exponentially at stations. With around 100 motormen reportedly calling in sick by 2 pm, the few trains plying during the agitation as well as station platforms witnessed an unprecedented overcrowding. 
    Dattatreya Sidham, assistant commissioner of police with the Government Railway Police (GRP), told TOI that the two cases of accidental death had been registered with the Bandra and Borivli GRP. "But the exact reasons for the deaths will be known only after we complete investigations," he said, adding that apart from the two cases, 11 passengers had suffered injures in rail-related incidents. 'File FIR against WR motormen' 
Mumbai: Vineet Gala, a 16-year-old Matunga resident, died after falling off a Borivlibound train at Bandra. Gala, an SYJC commerce student at St Andrew's College, had reportedly boarded the train at Matunga but due to overcrowding was pushed out at Bandra at around 3.30pm. 
    While the Bandra GRP says that Gala could have been hit by a train while crossing the tracks, Anish Khan, a railway activist, claims he was present at the station when the accident occurred. "I have met the parents of the victims and requested them to lodge an FIR against the striking motormen since it was the agitation called by them that caused overcrowding and death of commuters," he says. 
    The other accidental death occurred at Borivali, when Palghar resident Reena Kulkarni (25) fell into the gap between the platform and the train while trying to board the overcrowded Flying Ranee train. 
    A Borivli GRP official said, "The train had become overcrowded as the WR administration allowed suburban commuters to travel by mail/express trains. Kulkarni may have got pushed around by the crowd and fallen into the gap between the train and the platform at Borivali at around 7.35 pm." 
'Blame on Patil' T he 'rebel' motorman, Lachu Singh, has blamed R RPatil for the WR "mess" . In 2010, of both CR and WR had decided to go on a strike from May 3. Patil, who was the home minister then too, intervened and the strike was called off. Singh said such stirs would not ocur had Patil not offered an olive branch to the motormen. TNN

A probe into the deaths is on, but activists blame overcrowding due to Friday's strike

‘In panic, many jumped into darkness’

Kasara: Several passengers were either sleeping or were about to go to sleep in the Mumbai-Gondia Vidarbha Express on Thursday night when they were woken up with a jolt. Nagpur resident Parag Sadavarti (21) went through an hour-long trauma after he was stuck inside the toilet when the mishap occurred. 

    "I had stepped into the toilet when suddenly I heard a loud thud and the next moment the entire compartment shook. Due to the impact, I fell in the toilet. Somehow, I regained my consciousness and tried to open the door. But was found locked. On hearing my screams, my sister rushed to the toilet. Even she failed to open the door. For a moment, I thought I will remain stuck in the toilet. I was relieved when the RPF officials broke the door and freed me an hour later," Sadavarti said. 
    Another passenger, who was sleeping when the accident occurred, said she was lucky to escape as she woke up and held on to a handle. "The passengers in the train panicked and many began to jump into the darkness. Some of us stayed behind because we had luggages," she said. 
    Some of the passengers complained that it was difficult to move for the first few minutes as they had developed cramps. "Due to the accident, some passengers fell down and sustained minor injuries. Several suffered from cramps in the body,"' said passenger Sunny Singh. 
    Priya Varabhe (37), an associate professor in JJ Hospital, who suffered minor injuries said she was concerned about her brother Rupesh, a medical practitioner in Mumbai. "I am concerned about the health of my brother. Both his legs have been badly hurt. He also has some pain on his body after people fell on him," she said.