Indian Railways passenger body has proposed the demolition of the wall dividing Kurla station and Bhabha Hospital in order to save lives of accident victims
Bringing down the wall might just save a life. With this hope the Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC) -- a passenger body formed by the Indian Railways -- suggested the Central Railway (CR) demolish a small portion of a wall bordering the Kurla railway station and KB Bhabha Hospital.
Gupta shows the wall to the right from the Bhabha Hospital premises
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Currently, Bhabha Hospital shares the wall with Kurla station on the CST-end of Platform 1. This hospital is a few feet away from Platform 1 and the space between the two is occupied by a couple of one-storeyed shanties. In fact, when a person enters the hospital, one can see the 15-car platform meant for fast trains on Platforms 4-5. “Next to Platform 1, there is enough space for extending a small path towards the hospital premises. Here, the authorities can demolish a portion of the wall and build a small door mainly for carrying the accident victims,” said Subhash Gupta, president, Mumbai Yatri Sangh and member of DRUCC.
The intention of creating this concrete path and connecting this hospital is for the rail accident victims at Kurla station. Since January there have been 164 accidents only in the Kurla jurisdiction that extends up to Ghatkopar station. This path, if created, would be hardly 50 meters from the end of platform 1 and would be a saviour for victims. “This path can be specially be allocated for accident victims and not for general use,” says a railway official. As per the written suggestion made by the committee members, the path can be created or a foot overbridge that is being constructed can extend its arm inside the hospital.
Subhash Gupta, a DRUCC member points to the wall from Kurla station
At present, the route -- if one goes walking -- takes nearly six to eight minutes and may be even longer depending on the traffic. The roads are already narrow with shops on either side and a market. Also, the ambulance is placed on Kurla East -- the other side of the railway station -- wherein accident victims are taken to Rajawadi and Sion Hospitals.
The committee members claim that in case of lesser injuries, the victims can be taken to Bhabha Hospital instead of creating a separate medical room like Dadar station where a medical room has been created on Platform 6 of CR. Meanwhile the CR authorities who attended the meeting said they will have to inspect the proposal before agreeing to
proceed further.
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