(a) whether the Government is aware of the overcrowding of stations during Holi Festival as appeared in the Dainik Jagran dated March 21, 2005;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the remedial measures taken/to be taken to check recurrence of such incidents?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI R. VELU)
(a): Yes, Sir. There was considerable increase in demand for travel towards Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
(b) & (c): The following measures were taken by the concerned Zonal Railways to deal with the overcrowding on account of Holi rush:
(i) 35 Special trains were run from different stations like Delhi Sarai Rohilla, Delhi-Safdar Jang and Hazrat Nizamuddin with stoppage at Ghaziabad to clear the Holi rush and to avoid overcrowding at Delhi and New Delhi railway stations.
(ii) Extra coaches were attached to various trains on day to day basis.
(iii) Extra force was deployed by Railway Protection Force in co-ordination with traffic police, civil police and Government Railway Police.
(iv) Close monitoring was done by RPF through Closed-Circuit Camera Monitoring System at New Delhi and Delhi railway stations.