Mumbai News: MMRDA Suspends Officials, Orders High-Level Probe After Monorail Breakdown

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has cracked down on lapses that led to the recent monorail disruption, suspending two senior officials and ordering a high-level inquiry.

High-Level Inquiry Panel Formed

Under the directions of Commissioner Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee (IAS), MMRDA reviewed the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) followed during the incident. Based on preliminary findings, Manish Soni, Chief Engineer (Signal & Telecom) and Rajiv Gite, Manager (Security) were found responsible for negligence and immediately suspended.

A monorail official has questioned the investigation and stated selling of tickets should have been curtailed if the monorail was unable to take access load of passengers. “If the commercial team would have taken prompt action then the security staffers would have acted accordingly,” he added.

Meanwhile to ensure a thorough and transparent probe, Dr. Mukherjee has constituted a four-member inquiry committee headed by Additional Metropolitan Commissioner Vikram Kumar. The other members include Prof. Himanshu Bahirat (IIT Bombay), Geetha Pillai (Chief Transport Planner, CIDCO), and Astik Pandey (Joint Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA).

Zero-Tolerance Approach

The panel will investigate the circumstances surrounding the disruption and suggest corrective measures to strengthen safety and operational reliability of the monorail service.

Officials said the action reflects MMRDA’s zero-tolerance approach towards operational lapses and its priority to ensure passenger safety on the city’s public transport systems.

August 19 Incident Recap

On August 19th the rain-induced burden triggered two Monorail breakdowns, wherein 642 Passenger were rescued by the Mumbai fire brigade. The rescue operation continue for over two and half hours. Fortunately no one was injured or fatal accident reported but a few passengers complained of suffocation and were taken to hospital. 

Future Corrective Measures

The total weight of the monorail train had climbed to 109 metric tonnes, exceeding its 104-tonne limit. The overload snapped the mechanical contact between the power rail and the current collector, cutting off electricity supply and halting the service.MMRDA cautioned that the monorail is a limited-capacity transit system meant for specific corridors and cannot handle sudden, large-scale passenger volumes like suburban locals or metro rail.