Start-up dream cut short by fall from train. Parents of 22-yr-old Dombivili youth, whose fall from crowded train was captured in a video by a commuter, want change and not compensation for son's death

Nov 29 2015 : Mirror (Mumbai)

Start-up dream cut short by fall from train

Ankita Bhatkhande





Parents of 22-yr-old Dombivili youth, whose fall from crowded train was captured in a video by a commuter, want change and not compensation for son's death

Parents of the 22-year-old Dombivili youth, who fell to his death from a local train on Friday, have not yet mustered enough courage to watch a video shot by a fellow commuter that captured the moment of their son's fall.For a family yet to come to terms with the sudden death of their youngest son, perhaps not watching the video clip is the biggest sign of their denial.It was a normal day for Bhavesh Nakate who had boarded a local train from Dombivili to go to his office in Worli on Friday, but little did he know that the ride was about to be his last ever. In a bid to enter the crowded compartment of the 8.49 am-train, Nakate commenced his journey by hanging from the door ­ hoping to get inside at some point. The widely circulated video shows Nakate hanging onto the pole near the gate, until he could not anymore and falling off. He was declared dead on arrival at a hospital in Shastrinagar.
Chasing the start-up dream, Nakate had earned a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Model College, Kalyan. He worked as an operations executive for a website called Hopscotch and planned to start his own venture in a few years.
“His funda was simple. He wanted to work hard for a few years and then fund his own start-up venture. This was always his plan,“ 27-year-old Vishal Nakate, Bhavesh's brother said, as he recalled times spent with his fun-loving brother. Being a cricket-buff, he would always try to fit watching all the matches in the city into his schedule, Vishal added.
Nakate would work throughout the week and then rejuvenate himself on Sundays through his particular interest in the holistic way of living life as propagated by the Art of Living initiative.His friends knew him as a fan of this al ternate lifestyle and his Facebook page abounds with motivational posts matching the same.
After losing their son, the Nakate's do not want any compensation in return. But they would surely want the situation in local trains to improve so that nobody else loses somebody they love because of the peak-hour rush.
Nakate on the fateful day was running late for work and therefore must have boarded the train in a desperate bid to make it on time, his neighbourhood friends said.
“The trains at Dombivili are always so crowded. He must have thought that missing a train would not make any difference as no matter how many of them you miss, it is always this crowded,“ the friend, who did not want to named, added. “I regret not being able to even warn him of any danger as he had never had any train-related accident before,“ Vishal said.
Despite not hoping for any real change to take place after his son's death, he said, “I don't expect the authorities to do anything for improvement in the situation, but I will tell everybody to not sacrifice their lives by taking such crowded trains. It is alright to be late but not alright to lose one's life because of it.“

697 commuters died after falling off trains this year. An RTI query has revealed that the number of deaths due to victims falling from local trains has gone up in the last decade. In 2005, 494 people died after falling from local trains, and the toll this year has already reached 697 (till November 20).

Nov 29 2015 : Mirror (Mumbai)

697 commuters died after falling off trains this year

Kamal Mishra TWEETS @KMMIRROR





More people are losing lives after falling off packed trains compared to 10 yrs ago

An RTI query has revealed that the number of deaths due to victims falling from local trains has gone up in the last decade. In 2005, 494 people died after falling from local trains, and the toll this year has already reached 697 (till November 20).The worst year in terms of such casualties was 2013, when 901 people died after falling from trains. It was an increase of 82% as compared to the death toll in 2005, said RTI activist Anis Khan, quoting a reply received from Government Railway Police (GRP).
Questions are being raised about the commuters' safety, the local trains' capacity, and the railways' ability to respond quickly to an emergency, after a 21-year-old Dombivili resident fell off a crowded CST-bound local during the peak hours on Friday, resulting in his death.
The pictures above are grabs of a video recorded by another commuter in the second class compartment, in which the victim, Bhavesh Nakate, was desperately trying to get a foothold.
Khan said that the railway administration has failed to provide a safe and comfortable journey to the people. Most passengers who fall or slip from the running trains are struggling to get inside the compartment, just like Nakate. “The victims lose their grip and fall off, or get dashed against a pole near the railway track,“ Khan said.
As per the statistics provided under the RTI query, 7,686 people died after falling off trains in the last 10 years, while more than 22,000 were killed while crossing the tracks.
Activists said that the suburban railway network was on the “verge of a collapse“. Transport expert Ketan Goradia said, “A local train's capacity is around 1,700 people, and during the rush hours, it carries around 5,000 commuters. You can imagine the plight of the commuters. It's a miracle that people don't die of suffocation inside the compartments.“
A senior Western Railway official said that the railways were doing “everything possible“ to provide a comfortable transport, but “beating the population explosion was beyond anyone's control“. “If you compare the Mumbai suburban train network with its counterparts across the world, you'll see that we cater to the most number of people,“ the official said.
The commuters and experts, however, said that the railways could have done a lot more. “The system needs an overhaul. Signalling, station and platform layouts, track maintenance, converting all 12coach trains into 15-coach trains...obviously, the railways have a lot of work to do,“ said PC Sahagal, former MD of the Mumbai Rail Vikas Nigam.

Unconscious woman found beside rly track in Bhandup. Police have been unable to identify her; officials say she may have fallen off a moving local train, admitted her to Rajawadi Hospital

Nov 26 2015 : Mirror (Mumbai)

Unconscious woman found beside rly track in Bhandup

Kamal Mishra TWEETS @KMMIRROR





Police have been unable to identify her; officials say she may have fallen off a moving local train, admitted her to Rajawadi Hospital

Merely 36 hours after a medical student was pushed out of a moving local by a mobile phone snatcher, another woman was found unconscious near the railway tracks between Nahur and Bhandup after having fallen from a moving train. The incident occurred early in the morning on Wednesday.According to Government Railway Police (GRP) officials, at around 7 am on Wednesday, a commuter approached the station master at Kurla and told him that a lady, about 40 years of age, was lying unconscious near the tracks close to the pole marking a distance of 27.3 km from CST. The station master found her with the help of the Kurla GRP and had her admitted to Rajawadi hospital in Ghatkopar.
The victim, who is as yet unidentified, is still unable to move or speak. Vidya Thakur, medical superintendent of Rajwadi hospital, said she was grievously injured and has suf fered from multiple fractures in the head.
When asked about the incident, a senior GRP officer said, “Although she has some marks of injury on her hand, she suffered a severe injury only to the head. Prima facie it appears to be a case of falling down from a moving train. She has also not been identified.“
“We have informed all police stations in the central suburb about the incident and put out an alert for any reports about missing persons,“ he added.
The officials say the victim was found wearing a yellow metal chain, two bangles, two rings and four white metal rings. She was dressed in a pink Punjabi kurta and white churidar pyjama.
“We searched around the spot but didn't find any documents that would reveal her identity,“ said an official from GRP, Kurla.
This is the latest in a slew of such incidents that have dogged the central line. Last year, 797 deaths were attributed to falling from suburban trains.This year, the figure has already crossed the 700 mark, said a GRP official.
“Railway administration has completely failed to provide safe and comfortable transport to the passengers,“ said Advocate Swati Jain, who regularly uses the service to travel from CST to her residence in Dombivli.
“I think the basic reason why people are dying like animals is that railway officers have entirely failed to comprehend the hardships of the commuters,“ said Sudhir Katdare, another regular commuter from Thane. “Most of the passengers fall or slip from the trains when they struggle to get into a coach and fail to enter it, or when they get dashed against one of the poles next to the railway tracks,“ he added.
Upon being contacted by Mirror, Narendra Patil, chief public relations officer of Central Railway, said that the GRP and RPF are examining the case.
A railway official who did not wish to be named said, “It is true that the number of cases of passengers falling from trains has gone up, but this number also includes those cases where people lost their lives while performing stunts.“