MMRDA suspends 2 senior officials over lapses week after monorail disruptions

The officials suspended are Manish Soni, Chief Engineer (Signal & Telecom), Monorail, and Rajiv Gite, Manager, Security.

To investigate the incident further, an inquiry committee has been set up under the chairmanship of Additional Metropolitan Commissioner Vikram Kumar.

The panel also includes Prof Himanshu Bahirat of IIT Bombay, Geetha Pillai, Chief Transport Planner of CIDCO and Astik Pandey, Joint Metropolitan Commissioner of MMRDA. The committee will probe the causes of the failure and recommend corrective steps.

On August 19, a monorail, carrying 582 passengers, stalled between Mysore Colony and Bhakti Park stations at 6.38 pm following a power supply issue. According to MMRDA, the train “exceeded its original design capacity of 104 tons” due to overcrowding, which disrupted the power supply.

Nearly an hour later, another train with about 200 passengers came to a halt between Acharya Atre and Wadala stations at 7.33 pm. Both trains had to be towed back to stations and the passengers were evacuated.

In its statement after the August 19 incident, MMRDA said, “This prompt action demonstrates MMRDA’s zero-tolerance policy towards operational lapses and reiterates its unwavering commitment to passenger safety and robust accountability mechanisms.”

After the incident, the authority announced measures to avoid such situations in the future. These include procurement of 10 new monorail rakes.

Of these, seven have already arrived and are undergoing trials. “Once cleared, they will be added to passenger service, expanding capacity, reducing strain on the ageing fleet and improving overall reliability,” an official said.