New Gokhale bridge: Floods in north India affect fabrication work at Ambala

P Velrasu, additional municipal commissioner (projects), said a damage assessment was being done. “In Ambala, where the fabrication workshop is situated, has recorded heavy flooding. The exact damage at the workshop is being assessed by us at present,” Velrasu told The Indian Express on Thursday.

A primary connector in the western suburbs, the old bridge, whose structure had become weak, was demolished and a new one is being constructed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). As the bridge passes over railway tracks, it was pulled down by the railways while the civic body is constructing the new bridge.

The BMC awarded work for construction of the new bridge to Mumbai-based firm AB Infrabuild Ltd. The contractor has given the fabrication work to Ambala-based HMM Infra Ltd. Sources in the civic body said AB Infrabuild has informed the civic body that HMM’s Ambala workshop has been heavily affected in the rain and subsequent floods.

“The contractors have informed us that the Ambala plant is currently shut due to the flooding and they will intimate us as soon as work resumes. The fabrication work was going on full swing and as the delay has been caused by natural causes, we don’t think there will be large-scale escalation in cost,” an official said, adding that the BMC was on schedule to open one arm of the bridge by Diwali this year and was hopeful that the entire bridge will be operational by the year-end.

The cost of the new bridge has been pegged at Rs 90 crore and will have six lanes for smooth vehicular movement. The bridge was shut in November 2022 after the traffic department of Mumbai police urged the civic body to shut it.