Six railway bridge mishaps in two years – three of them resulting in deaths – have enraged Mumbai about the state of its civic infrastructure On Friday, the despair and fury over administrative negligence reverberated on social media.
On Thursday evening at around 7.30 during rush house, a portion of a foot overbridge at the city’s busy Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus railway station collapsed, killing six and injuring more than 30. The bridge was three decades old and had reportedly been declared fit for use in an audit carried out by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation just six months ago. After the collapse, a blame game has begun between the Railways and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, with each claiming the other was responsible for maintaining the bridge.
Thursday’s mishap came 18 months after a stampede at the overcrowded and narrow foot-over-bridge at Parel’s Prabhadevi Station killed 23 people. Then on July 3 last year, a large portion of a bridge connecting the East and West parts of the Andheri suburb collapsed at the Andheri station. A woman injured in the accident died four days later.
On social media, there was all-round condemnation for the administrative failure to maintain the city’s crumbling infrastructure. Maharashtra is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, while the civic body, the richest in the country, is controlled by its ally, the Shiv Sena. Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, also of the BJP, was also at the receiving end of anger, amid calls from the Congress for his resignation.
How can you just fall walking on a bridge? Happens only in #Mumbai. Feels so angry seeing repeated Negligence despite a similar disaster earlier. @Dev_Fadnavis👎 Not Acceptable at all. #CSTBridgeCollapse pic.twitter.com/9QIw4xN4rh
— Priya Gupta (@priyagupta999) March 15, 2019
#MumbaiBridgeCollapse
— Sudheendra Kulkarni (@SudheenKulkarni) March 14, 2019
May God help my badly governed city!
My heart cries for the innocent Mumbaikars who are dead or injured.
Elphistone Stampede 29/9/2017
— Bring It On 👊 (@TigersBloodCell) March 14, 2019
Andheri Bridge Collapse 3/7/2018
CST Bridge collapse 14/3/2019
Fancy Third party audits announced were of no use@PiyushGoyal and @Dev_Fadnavis take moral responsibility and resign #MumbaiBridgeCollapse
Every such act of negligence by the government should be counted as state-sponsored murder of its citizens. Makes one feel so angry and helpless. We use the local train and these stations daily and it's impossible now to not feel paranoid. Shame. #MumbaiBridgeCollapse
— वरुण (@varungrover) March 14, 2019
I walk on that cst bridge everyday, i had classmates who walked over it 30 minutes before this happened,I’m sad and I’m angry,this is THE MAIN MUMBAI TRAIN STATION,THE BMC HEAD OFFICE IS RIGHT THERE & THEY DONT CARE, I can’t believe until bridges fall and people die no one cares
— Priyanka Paul (@artwhoring) March 14, 2019
The much vaunted “Spirit of Mumbai”, the belief in the city’s strength to soldier on despite daily hardships and major catastrophes such as riots and terror attacks also came under criticism.
It took me a long time to realize that Mumbai's resilience is actually apathy.
— amitbehere (@amitbehere) March 14, 2019
Dear Mumbaikars. You are getting an expensive costal road with 2000 free parkings. Why are you asking the angry politicians about bridges and FOBs that are killing people? 😡😡 summon up the spirit of Mumbai and carry on!! pic.twitter.com/iU2cieSm7r
— Sucheta Dalal (@suchetadalal) March 14, 2019
Has the "spirit of Mumbai" successfully collapsed? Hopefully forever?
— Zainab Sikander (@zainabsikander) March 14, 2019
Should we start questioning the govt now?
Can the government solve the problem by renaming the bridge, asked comedian Atul Khatri, invoking the BJP’s Hindutva renaming spree as part of which, among other things, Mughal Sarai railway station became Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya junction and Allahabad became Prayagraj.
Dear Govt. - A bridge has collapsed in Mumbai. What are you going to do about it??
— Atul Khatri (@one_by_two) March 15, 2019
We will rename it Mumbadevi Bridge #MumbaiBridgeCollapse
BJP spokesperson Sanju Verma’s remarks to the Times Now news channel sparked another wave of fury on Twitter. Speaking to journalist Navika Kumar, Verma described the incident as a “natural calamity” rather than an instance of governance deficit and said that “a large part of the blame was on pedestrians”.
The more crassness spokespersons like @Sanju_Verma_ show about this horrific tragedy, the more the BJP will alienate the citizens of Mumbai. This bridge collapse has shocked the city, but more shocking is the buck passing and this kind of shamelessness of the ruling establishment https://t.co/CZSzKWRJRS
— Sidharth Bhatia (@bombaywallah) March 14, 2019
THIS is what happens when you don't question your leadership.
— Akash Banerjee (@akashbanerjee) March 14, 2019
(Any party, anywhere in the world)
It leads to this level of asinine arrogance. Even as people die @Sanju_Verma_ of the BJP says it's the people who are at fault 🙏
#MumbaiBridgeCollapse pic.twitter.com/4qSxLwNQ7r
At least the BJP hasn’t blamed Jawaharlal Nehru yet, pointed out YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, in a reference to the party’s penchant for holding the country’s first prime minister responsible for contemporary India’s ills.
So 5 people died in today's #MumbaiBridgeCollapse.
— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) March 14, 2019
BJP spokesperson calls it a "natural calamity"
Look at the photo, does it look like a natural calamity from any angle?
But be glad that they did not blame Nehru for this yet. pic.twitter.com/iq9FufoW1S
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal: CST bridge falls under BMC, not Indian Railways.
— Samar (@Samar_Anarya) March 15, 2019
Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai: Bridge comes under the railways!
Why stop at this shameless BJP & Shiv Sena when you can blame #Nehru ji, he died just 19 years before the bridge was built? #CSTBridgeCollapse
Or perhaps we could blame Isaac Newton for his theory of gravity, one Twitter user suggested.
Now that Nehru can't be blamed for this one. Let's blame Newton since because of him gravity pulled the bridge down. #CSTBridgeCollapse
— Nikhil S. Bardeskar (@NSBardeskar) March 15, 2019
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