Sumitra Deb Roy & Manthan K Mehta TNN
Mumbai: A 31-year-old electrician lost both legs when he slipped through the gap between the platform and a coach at Kurla station on Wednesday evening while trying to board a moving train.
Barely four days ago, 16-year-old Monika More lost both her arms when she fell into an unguarded signal pit while trying to board a train at Ghatkopar.
Tanavir Sheikh was rushed to Sion Hospital within 30 minutes of the accident, but his limbs could not be saved because of the nature of his injuries. Eyewitnesses told TOI that around 10.30pm on Wednesday, Sheikh came in from the Ghatkopar-end of platform 6 and tried to board a CST-bound fast local train that was pulling out. “He tried to get a hold on to the door handle of the coach but lost his balance and fell through the gap between the platform and the rake,” said a commuter Shankar Iyer. Kurla platform gap widest where man fell on tracksLegs Couldn’t Be Reattached, Family Worried About Future
Tanavir Sheikh, who fell while trying to board a local at Kurla on Wednesday, was bleeding profusely as one leg had been cut off below the knee and the other was dangling only by the skin when he was brought to hospital by 11pm.
“His legs were completely amputated near the knee and
there was no stump left to carry out a reattachment surgery. Reattachment is always tricky in accidents where patients suffer serious crush injuries. Once the bones have healed, we will think of prosthetic limbs,” said Dr Ashok Rathod, professor, orthopaedic department, Sion Hospital.
“He lost balance while trying to board the train. We will know the exact cause of accident only after checking the CCTV footage,” said P D Babar, inspector, Kurla GRP.
At Kurla station, the height of platform 6 varies from 760mm to 920mm with the gap the widest towards the Ghatkopar-end. “Platform designing is a complicated process as we have to take into account track geometry and topography of the land. Kurla is like a bowl where water from surrounding areas get accumulated, impacting the track geometry,” explained a railway official.
“It is a risky platform and last year, too, one of our personnel had died because of the huge gap,” said a GRP official.
“Fortunately, the train stopped soon and passengers pulled up Sheikh from the tracks. The hamals and GRP officials took him to hospital,” added Nitin Shukla, who also witnessed the accident.
Sheikh’s brother-in-law Kasam Saiyyed had reached the hospital soon after he was brought in. Sheikh was conscious and kept worrying how his family would survive as he was the only one who earned before the doctors sedated him and started treatment, he said.
Sheikh’s wife Asma, 22, said he had said he would be home for dinner. “Our lives are doomed now as he is the sole bread-earner of the family. We have no finances to take care of his treatment,” she said.
Shaikh, a resident of Govandi, earned about Rs 3,000-5,000 a month from odd assignments. The couple has three children, aged six, five and one and a half years. They were preparing to send their second son to school in the next couple of months.
The family has begun battling problems already — their first one was unavailability of blood. “All night we scouted for B negative blood and finally managed to get it only in the morning from a Dahisar blood bank,” said Saiyyed. They have not heard of the state’s recently launched blood-on-call service.
“We do not know the circumstances under which he met with an accident. We are ascertaining the fact before a conclusion can be drawn,” said Central Railway divisional manager Mukesh Nigam. UNEVEN STATION PUTS PASSENGERS AT RISK
TANAVIR SHEIKH, 31 Lives in Govandi Is an electrician Earns Rs 3,000-5,000 a month Has a family of four: wife Asma (22), and three children WORK DAY | Sheikh was headed home from work. He was in Kurla to make electrical arrangements for a social gathering
He is usually home by 9pm
On Wednesday, he worked longer
Sheikh tries to board train as it starts pulling out of platform He loses balance and slips into gap between footboard and platform His legs are crushed under the train He is brought to Sion Hospital by 11pm by railway officials, who also inform his family members In hospital, his parameters are stabilized On Thursday, his crushed legs are surgically removed knee down PROSTHETIC LEGS PROSTHESES WIDELY USED IN INDIA
Tanavir Sheikh may be able to lead a near normal life with below-knee prosthetic legs
Below-knee artificial legs are easy to handle because of control with natural knees
The stump goes into a socket and is held in place with suction
The socket, foot and shin of a prosthetic leg is designed in a way to efficiently bear the wearer’s body weight Jaipur foot | Made of wood and sponge rubber moulded at high temperature. Rubber on the outer surface gives the leg a natural look. The leg can bend in all directions that a natural leg can and offers high flexibility to users, who can walk on uneven surfaces and even squat COST | Available for free
Solid ankle cushion heel (SACH) foot
Speciality is soft rubber heel that compresses under weight just like a natural heel does COST | Rs 1.5-1.75 lakh OLD RAKES Number | 23 Footboard height | 1.22 m
from top surface of rail
NEW RAKES Number | 51 Footboard height | 1.18-1.2 m from top surface of rail
What explains height difference
Air springs in newer rakes are less compressed than that of old rakes
PLATFORMS Height raised to 0.84 m | 500 platforms on CR Height of 0.76 m to less than 0.84 m | 50 platforms on CR PLANS TO INCREASE PLATFORM HEIGHT CR plans to increase height of 50 remaining platforms ‘soon’ Platforms at Chembur and Kurla stations, and platform No 5 at Dadar will be taken up on priority CST EXPERIMENT Height of platforms at CST | 0.92 m This is considered to be comfortable for commuters Western Railway has sought permission from railway board to raise the height of its suburban network platforms to 0.92 metres Ideal footboard-platform gap | 3.4-4.35 cm TIMES VIEW: Work on raising platform height needs to be finished on an emergency basis. Funds should not be a roadblock in a matter like this; if need be, money meant for other work should be diverted here. Every accident is a human tragedy and accidents, where one contributing factor may be the gap between the footboard and the platform, are avoidable human tragedies. Commuters also need to understand that nothing — even reaching their destination a few minutes late — is more important than life or limb. The railways cannot shake off the responsibility of ensuring a safe journey but this is one responsibility that should also be shared by commuters.
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