The Indian Army has started construction of a new foot-over-bridge at Mumbai’s Elphinstone Road station, after the horrific stampede on 29 September that left 23 people dead.
Railway minister Piyush Goyal, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited the Elphinstone Road station on 31 October, where Fadnavis announced that the army will help build three new foot-over-bridge at the Elphinstone Road station in Mumbai
The FOB are to be constructed by 31 January 2018, at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore, reported The Times of India.
However, after the CM’s announcement, opposition, citizens, and ex-army officers came out vehemently against the decision of involving army in a matter of civic failure. Their argument was that constructing bridges is not the legitimate task of the appropriate agencies in the public works department of the BMC and the Railways.
According to a Business Standard report, chief spokesperson of Western Railway Ravinder Bhakar responded to the criticism saying:
Not only the Indian Army, but armies across the globe, whenever a country faces a severe crisis, they come forward to help the people.
According to the report, Bhakar said the task of constructing new foot-over-bridges in Mumbai were handed over to the army because they have expertise in building roads and developing infrastructure.
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