Mumbai: Stampede-like situation near airport as thousands turn up for loaders' job

Stampede-like situation at Mumbai airport. File Photo

A stampede-like situation prevailed near the Mumbai airport where thousands of job aspirants gathered to apply for a limited number of vacancies for the post of loader. However, the police claimed on Wednesday they had made adequate arrangements to avoid any untoward incident.

According to the PTI report, officials from the Sahar police station, under whose jurisdiction the airport falls, said, the incident took place on Tuesday morning and the situation was later brought under control.

No one was reported to be injured.

More than 6,000 candidates gathered near the airport to submit their applications and police faced difficulties in managing the crowd, they said, reported PTI.

To avoid a similar situation, aspirants were reportedly asked to come in batches and only 550 candidates took part in the recruitment drive on Wednesday.

A large number of jobseekers assembled at gate No. 5 near the Sahar cargo complex, with applications and relevant documents in hand on Tuesday after they came to know about the vacancy for loaders at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), an official said, reported PTI.

When the situation became difficult to manage, the aspirants were reportedly asked to submit their resumes, applications and other documents to airport authorities and leave the spot.

Later, the authorities decided to call 200 applicants for an interview, the official said, reported PTI.

According to the news agency report, all the applicants were freshers and most of them had just passed Class 12.

"No untoward incident was reported and the situation was later brought under control," the official told PTI.

Another official said adequate deployment of police personnel was done to avoid any untoward incident during the recruitment drive.

To avoid a similar situation, police on Wednesday reportedly asked the authorities not to call all the candidates at one time, he said.

Accordingly, the authorities called only 550 candidates on Wednesday and processed their applications. According to the PTI report, they were called in three groups, two batches of 200 candidates each followed by 150 aspirants in the last round of the day, said the official.

This made the recruitment process smoother and faster, he said, adding the drive will go on for the next couple of days, reported PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)