Two more months before critical Mumbai bridges reopen

Brihamnumbai Municipal Corporation's decision to close 21 bridges in Mumbai has left Mumbaikars in lurch as they face immense problems in commuting due to the lack of proper alternate routes.

And now it seems that the people of the maximum city will have to wait for at least two more months before some of the critical bridges in the city and suburbs will be ready for pedestrians and light vehicular movement.

Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday held a meeting with BMC Commissioner, Mumbai Police Chief and other senior officials to discuss the issue status on bridges in Mumbai. It was decided in the meeting that the dilapidated bridges that have scope to allow the movement of light vehicles will be repaired within two months time.

The BMC will use concrete overlay technique as suggested by Veermata Jijibai Technological Institute (VJTI).

The institute was designated the task to audit the bridges and check if they could be used for light vehicular movement.

Interestingly, these bridges have already been declared dangerous for public by the civic body. The BMC, in its recent re-audit report, had declared 29 bridges in the city to be unsafe for public use.

A senior civic body official, on condition of anonymity, said that they have clear instructions to not take any risks and shut down all bridges that have been declared dangerous. Now the load tests will be done in the presence of VJTI and IIT professionals on the bridges. This exercise will be completed in the next 48 hours and then a call on bridges to be repaired as suggested by VJTI will be taken. he said

Four major decisions were taken in the meeting:

1. The chief minister has given emergency procedure powers under the Disaster Act to the BMC Commissioner so that the completely dilapidated bridges in Mumbai can be rebuilt at the earliest.

2. Ghatkopar bridge, Oshiwara bridge and SNDT bridge being critical bridges will be readied within two month’s time for light vehicles. Others will be added to the list after load testing.

3. A Google-based application will be launched within 15 days to help Mumbaikars navigate the alternate routes.

4. Till the time the bridges are repaired or reconstructed and various metro corridors are ready, the BEST buses will provide free bus rides to people within 5 km range of the heavy congested market places that are most frequented during festivals.

BJP leader Ashish Shelar said, It was felt that people often tend to avoid market places where there isn’t parking facility and that also impacts business. Such markets are being identified and call would be taken soon."

Congress leader Ravi Raja, however, slammed the government for doing too little, too late. Closing the bridges first and then finding the alternate route isn’t the solution. This should have happened a year back. The government should have thought about these measures when the structural audit was on. Now when the monsoon is here and people are facing hardships because of the bridge closures, Ravi Raja said.

Samajwadi Party leader Rais Shaikh said, CM has intervened very late on the issue. This is not going to bring in any relief to the Mumbaikars. The core issue here is mismanagement. I don’t have faith in the BMC and I am confident that the BMC will not be able to complete the construction even in one year. This is a short-term view. The need is to find serious solution and set accountability.

Out of the 29 bridges declared dangerous, eight have already been demolished. Out of the 21 bridges, 13 were closed last week, whereas the one over Oshiwara nalla was closed on Monday evening. India Today TV had last week found that the Dharavi-Bandra bridge is still being used and the bridge at Panther Nagar Vikhroli was being forcibly used by people for the want of an alternate way. The BMC is yet to respond on how it plans to close the bridges where there are no alternate routes.