Big headload falling from a passenger led to New Delhi Railway Station stampede: Ashwini Vaishnaw

NEW DELHI: The stampede at New Delhi Railway Station on Feb 15 that claimed 18 lives was triggered due to a "big headload falling from one of the passengers", railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Rajya Sabha on Friday, quoting the findings of a high-level inquiry committee.In a written reply to a question from Samajwadi Party MP Ramji Lal Suman about the status of the committee constituted to investigate the stampede, Vaishnaw submitted that the incident happened on foot overbridge (FOB)-3 stairs connecting platforms 14/15 at the station. Sufficient crowd management protocols were in place to handle the overall volume of passengers at the station on that day, he claimed."There was a gradual increase of passenger density on the FOB after 20.15 hrs.

Many of the passengers were carrying big headloads, affecting smooth movement on the FOB. A big headload fell from one of the passengers and the pressure was passed on to the PF 14/15 stairs resulting in the tripping of passengers on the stairs. This led to an incident at 20.48 hrs on FOB-3, which was limited to the stairs of FOB. Consequently, passengers fell on each other.

In the incident, 18 people lost their lives and 15 others were injured," Vaishnaw said in the written reply.

Indian Railways has paid Rs 2 crore as ex gratia to 33 victims and their family members-Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased, Rs 2.5 lakh each to the grievously injured, and Rs one lakh each to those with simple injuries. On the corrective steps being taken, the ministry said a series of measures had been planned to handle heavy rush at stations, including creation of permanent holding areas at 73 identified stations, such as New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Ayodhya and Surat, which periodically face heavy crowds.There is a plan to have complete access control, meaning only passengers with confirmed reserved tickets will be given direct access to the platforms and other passengers will wait in the outside waiting area. All unauthorised entry points will be sealed.