Every day several thousand people, mostly women, from Yeshwantpur, who are employed in the garment sector, risk their limbs and lives by crossing the railway tracks here to reach their work place located on the opposite side. They are desperately in need of a connecting underbridge.
Peenya, Goraguntepalaya, Rajagopalanagar, RMC Yard, Mannappapalya, Shankarnagar, Krishnaanadanagar and Vijayaanandanagar have garment factories whose major workforce is drawn from Yeshwantpur.
There is a foot-over-bridge that connects Platforms 1 to 6 but they take you inside the station premises, which is a ticketed zone. Crossing the tracks is, therefore, the preferred option for these people.
The problem is acute in the mornings when the workforce rushes to their factories before the specified time and many injuries take place in an attempt to make a dash before a train approaches.
Garment employee Latha, one of the regular track-crossers here, recalled an incident when a colleague got into a standing train to cross over to the other side. “The train moved instantly and she had to travel a considerable distance before returning back to Yeshwantpur. Factories want us to be on time, so we take this risk daily,” she said.
Girija, a resident of Muneshwaranagar, which falls on the other side of the tracks, said, “I have been crossing these tracks for over 20 years. I know it is dangerous but we have to go to Yeshwantpur for all our necessites including medical care. We really need a bridge here.”
Rashida Begum, whose house is near the railway tracks said, “I have seen girls tripping on the stones and falling down in their rush to cross before a train appears.” Fortyfive-year-old Ramaswamy recalled, “I have seen major accidents, even deaths, take place during rush hour in the mornings and evenings. Something has to be done soon.”
When this issue was brought to the notice of DRM Mahesh Mangal, he said, “Projects bearing the welfare of people in mind is the job of the State Government. If there is a proposal from them and they are willing to bear the cost, we will execute the job for them.”
