Stampede dashes hopes of police job aspirants

The stampede at a police recruitment drive at Kalina hostel in Mumbai on Monday, which left one killed and 11 injured, has shattered hopes of most of the job aspirants who came from different parts of Maharashtra.

A sense of depression has set in at the VN Desai hospital where some of the injured were admitted.

Twenty-four-year-old Kiran Choudhary said he lost all original documents of his educational qualifications during the melee. He hoped the police would help him in finding them.

"I have four sisters and have to get them married. I was heavily banking on this job. Now my hopes are shattered," he said, adding that there was not enough police 'bandobast' at the spot.

Vinayak (22), another injured admitted in the hospital, said there was too much confusion at the window and there was no one to direct us. There were no police officers to maintain the queue.

His physically disabled brother said, "Our family was hoping that Vinayak would get this job. Now we do not know what would be his fate."

"What will I do now? Our entire family was depending on him," said the father of 22-year-old Ramesh Gopinath from Ahmednagar, who was crushed to death in the stampede.

Most of the 30,000 applicants had come from far off places like Shahpur and Ahmednagar and was waiting in queue since Sunday night.

"A group of applicants was waiting since last (Sunday) night. We were in the beginning of the queue when the window opened today (Monday). Suddenly, those standing behind started pushing and surged forward to submit the forms. Everyone started jumping at each other which created panic and applicants in the front got hurt," Kiran said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil visited the injured at the hospital and assured them of providing compensation.

"I will direct the police to fill in the forms of all the injured and submit it to the department concerned," Patil told reporters at the hospital.

N B Mohite, a police constable attached to Vakola police station, said the stampede had occurred because the crowd suddenly became eager to submit forms quickly. It became difficult to manage the queue, as there were 30,000 applicants.

He said Kalina was just one centre. There were other centres in Mumbai -- at Worli, Elphinstone, Marine Lines, Marol, Somaiya College and Naigon. In each of these centres there were about 10,000 applicants waiting in the queue to submit the forms.

He further said applicants broke the queue at Kalina because they were in a hurry and had planned to submit forms at other centres, including Navi Mumbai and nearby Thane, as well.