BMC rejects proposal to fix 16 bridges, repair work shelved

The civic administration, however, claimed that if cleared, a special permission could have been obtained from the Election Commission of India to repair the bridges, especially in the backdrop of the March 14 foot overbridge collapse. Six people were killed and at least 31 others were injured after a FOB outside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus collapsed.

“This is unfortunate as already the repair work of bridges is staring at a delay due to multiple reasons — tendering process, traffic issues and re-auditing. Though Model Code of Conduct is in effect, we had planned to send the proposal to the EC citing CSMT FOB collapse incident (of March 14) to seek approval. Rejection of the proposal has only added to the delay…,” a senior official from the bridges department said. The proposal will now be taken up for discussion in a meeting scheduled next week, the official said.

The proposal for minor repairs on bridges, with an outlay of Rs 13.86 crore, was tabled before the Standing Committee for its approval. The proposal included names of some prominent bridges like Grant Road railway bridge, Opera House bridge, Princess Street FOB, Diana Bridge, Eastern Freeway, Churchgate, CSMT and Haji Ali subways.

According to sources, the opposition corporators had sought a discussion on the proposal as the technical bid for the tender and audit of these bridges had been prepared by Prof D D Desai’s Associated Engineering Consultants and Analysts Private Limited, which is facing action over the CSMT FOB collapse. Desai’s firm had undertaken the structural audit of the CSMT FOB in 2016 and submitted a report stating that the overbridge was in a “good condition”.

“After the CSMT FOB collapse, questions were raised against the Standing Committee for delaying the proposals of bridges repair. We wanted a discussion on this proposal as Desai’s name was involved, but the Sena did not allow us to speak and the proposal was rejected,” Ravi Raja, Standing Committee member and opposition leader, said.

Defending his stand, the Standing Committee chairman said, “The administration did not present all the details regarding the proposal. Civic administration should clarify why we should trust a tainted auditors report? Also, due to Model Codewe decided to reject it. We will take it up in the next meeting.”