Culvert bridge collapses; two vehicles fall into gap

While officials from the roads department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said the bridge was built in 1991 by the Public Works Department and handed over to the BMC for maintenance in 1993,local corporator Paru Katke said the bridge is almost 30 years old.

Civic officials said prima facie the cause of the collapse appeared to be the sinking of the foundation of the wall on which the culvert was resting,creating a wide gap.

“We are trying to ascertain the cause of the incident,” said assistant municipal commissioner D V S Jain. The dumper was carrying sand and driver Ashok Kumar had stopped at the signal. Fortunately,he felt the truck sinking and got off thinking it was a tyre burst. Soon after,the dumper tilted and the bridge collapsed,” a local ward official said.

Vehicular traffic going towards BKC via the Tulsi pipe road was disrupted.

A former official in charge of bridges said most culvert bridges are more than 12 metres long and hence are included within the purview of inspection by the Standing Technical Advisory Committee (STAC). However,he was not certain if the said bridge is included in the list of bridges that were declared dangerous by the STAC in 2009. “Most culverts are old and so is the one that gave away. I am not sure if it was in the ‘most dangerous’ list but these bridges need to be inspected and repaired regularly because of their age and the vehicular load that they take everyday,” he said.

Katke said the bridge was not inspected by BMC officials

The city has a total of 253 bridges,including waterways and subways. In 2007,STAC had made 80 recommendations for these bridges,most of which were found to be in a dilapidated condition. However,the civic body is yet to undertake even a proper inspection and structural audit of these bridges.