Railways defends govt's decision, says Army has expertise in building roads, bridges

Mumbai: The Central and Western Railways on Tuesday said the Army was chosen to build three foot over- bridges in Mumbai due to its expertise and reputation in building roads and bridges in unfavourable situations.

Addressing a joint press conference here, chief spokespersons of Western Railway (WR) Ravinder Bhakar and Central Railway (CR) Sunil Udasi said the Army was a preferred choice in times of crises in all the countries across the globe.

They said that since the Army has an expertise in building roads and developing infrastructure, the task of constructing the foot over-bridges in Mumbai has been handed over to it.

"Not only the Indian Army, but armies across the globe, whenever a country faces a severe crisis, they come forward to help the people," Bhakar said.

"We have many cases wherein the Army was roped in to rescue the needy people during crises, such as very recently Savitri river bridge in Raigad district was swept away and the Army joined the rescue missions," he added, as per PTI.

The government has been facing severe criticism over its decision to take the help of the Army to build the over- bridges in Mumbai in the wake of Elphinstone Road station stampede that claimed 23 lives last month.

The Maharashtra government earlier today had said that the Army would build three footover bridges including the one at Elphinstone railway station where a stampede killed 23 people in September, sparking a political slugfest over soldiers being used in civil works.

The foot overbridges (FOBs) will be built on Elphinstone Road of Western Railway, and Currey Road and Ambivali stations of the Central Railway on the congested Mumbai suburban network.

"Given the Army engineers` expertise, they will construct the three foot overbridges by January 31. The Army has been very helpful to not just us but the society at large and I am very thankful to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal for this huge help to bring ease in Mumbaikars` life," Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the media, IANS reported.

Indian Army has always been very helpful to not just us but society at large and I am very thankful to #RakshaMantri @nsitharaman ji & Railway Minister @PiyushGoyal ji for this huge help to bring ease in Mumbaikars’ life : CM @Dev_Fadnavis pic.twitter.com/kzVFf9fEdL — CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) October 31, 2017

On the other hand, Sitharaman said, "The Indian Army has always been steadfast in the provision of aid for disaster relief issues. This is the first time when we are actually Army to help us in what essentially could be called civil work in the financial capital city of the country."

Goyal, on his part, said work on the bridges was expected to begin within 15 days, and in a later tweet, said it will be done by January 31, 2018.

Armed Forces to help in constructing 3 FOBs at Elphinstone Rd, Currey Rd & Ambivali Stations. Work to be done by 31 Jan’18 #MumbaiThanksArmy — Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) October 31, 2017

The development came a little over a month after 23 commuters were killed in a stampede on a narrow FOB connecting WR`s Elphinstone Road with Parel on Central Railway on September 29.

Sitharaman, Goyal, Fadnavis, the Railway Board chief, the WR and CR general managers and other officials on Tuesday morning surveyed the Elphinstone Road station to take stock of the improvement works in progress post-stampede.

The move to involve the Army for urban civilian works in peace-time attracted strong criticism from opposition leaders, including Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and a passengers body.

(With Agency inputs)