NEW DELHI: To ensure that last year's tragic stampede at New Delhi railway station is not repeated, Northern Railway has made elaborate arrangements at all its railway stations to clear the Chhat Puja rush bound for Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. Apart from introducing four pairs of special trains and augmenting other trains, it has deployed extra security personnel for better crowd management prevention of any untoward incident.

The passenger rush for Chhat Puja every year begins immediately after Diwali and continues for at least a week when lakhs of natives of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh working in the Capital travel back home. Last year, around 10-lakh additional passengers travelled during this period, chocking the two main railway stations in the city -- New Delhi and Old Delhi. And as per reports, already around three-lakh passengers have left for Bihar and Uttar Pradesh during the past couple of days.

Last year's stampede, that had claimed five lives and left a dozen injured, was mainly due to the failure of railway officials to anticipate the huge turnout. So this year, not only three additional companies of security forces have been deployed at all railway stations apart from regular deployment, senior railway officials are monitoring the movement of crowds at railway stations, mainly at New Delhi and Old Delhi, through 60 closed-circuit television cameras. Similarly, additional counters for assistance and selling tickets have been opened and special medical arrangements have been made to meet any eventuality.

Informing that dog squads were combing stations and security personnel were keeping extra vigil in the wake of recent serial bomb blasts, a senior Northern Railway official said apart from adding more coaches to at least three-dozen trains that travel to Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, it has been ensured that these trains leave from platforms that are easily accessible and people do not have to climb over-bridges that connect platforms at stations.

"We have put barricades at platforms and over bridges to manage movement of crowds and are requesting non-passengers who are coming to see off their relatives and friends not to unnecessarily overcrowd the platforms. We are also making regular announcements about movement of trains and asking people not to touch unclaimed objects. Already, the daily average of passengers at New Delhi railway station has gone up from 3.5-lakh to over 5-lakhs. We hope this year more than 10-lakh additional passengers will travel in trains," he added.

Though everything has gone smoothly for the railway authorities so far, it still lacks planning.

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