MUMBAI: A day after Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor was seen leaning out of a running local train during a promotional event, the Western Railway today slapped a notice on the production house seeking an explanation for his "stunt" and flouting safety norms.
The Railway officials, however, said that they now plan to rope in the "Slumdog Millionaire" star in their campaign against train stunts, which they said, have claimed several lives and continue to be a problem.
Kapoor had boarded a local train on the Western line yesterday for the promotion of his TV series. A local newspaper had published a photograph of the actor leaning from the foot-board of the running train and waving his hand.
An official of the Public Relations department of WR said they have sent a notice to the production house and has sought an explanation as to why the actor went against safety and security rules.
"In spite of the terms and conditions to adhere strictly to safety and security during shoot, Anil Kapoor seems to be leaning from the foot-board of a local train during a promo shoot on July 14," a senior official of the WR said.
"As observed from videos through social media, an explanation has been sought from production co M/s Market Men Consumer & Events Pvt Ltd in this regard," said the official.
Udai Shukla, Inspector General of Railway Protection Force-cum-Chief Security Commissioner of WR, said, "Although Kapoor's act of posing for a photo by leaning out of the train is not much objectionable, there certainly is negligence involved in it."
"We have sent a cautionary note to the actor and are going to make an appeal to support our endeavour to educate people that performing stunts is extremely dangerous because there have been many instances in which people lost their lives by indulging in such acts," Shukla said.
Last year, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had ordered the Central Railway (CR) and WR to set up committees to find out reasons behind accidental deaths.
An RTI query filed by an activist had revealed that as many as 25,722 passengers had fallen off running local trains in Mumbai (travelling on Western, Central and Harbour suburban services in Mumbai Commissionerate) in the last ten years, of whom 6,989 commuters died, while 18,733 survived.