Mumbai stamped:Ex-Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu ignored Bridge widening

Suresh Parbhi was warned in 2015 that the Mumbai Parel-Elphinstone foot-over-bridge is not safe for huge crowd by many leaders. Infact a Shiv Sena Member of Parliament, Arvind Sawant red-flagged the issue of the foot-over-bridge and requested that a new bridge should be built. Apart from Sawant ,another Sena MP Rahul Shewale wrote similar letter to ministry.

The ministry was told about this in 2015 - a full two years before today morning's deadly tragedy on Mumbai's suburban railway service. ministry was requested to bulid a new bridge or widen the existing bridge.

To their letter and requests Suresh Prabhu replied as follows, "Most of the requests which are received reflect the genuine needs and demands of the people and it is always our endeavour to agree to many requests as possible. However, sometimes due to the paucity of finances, operational constraints or other compelling circumstances agreeing to the request may not be possible," Prabhu wrote.

In the letter ex-Railways Minister indirectly said that they do not have funds for widening the bridge or building new bridge.