Collapsed Mumbai Bridge Was Declared ‘Safe’ With Need For ‘Minor Repairs’

New Delhi: South Mumbai’s Himalaya foot overbridge collapsed during rush hour on Thursday killing six persons and leaving at least 30 injured. Police officials said the incident happened around 7.30 pm when a large portion of the bridge fell on Dr DN Road affecting north-bound traffic on JJ flyover during peak hour.

Soon after the collapse, a blame game has begun with the Railway authorities pointing fingers at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and vice-versa. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has, meanwhile, ordered high-level enquiry into the bridge collapse incident and has also announced ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to each family of the deceased, while Rs 50,000 will be provided to each injured.

The foot overbridge, whose structural audit was recently done, is maintained by the BMC, which is controlled by the Shiv Sena. As reported by The Hindu, the bridge was declared safe and was only supposed to undergo ‘minor repairs’, according to a structural audit conducted late last year by J D Desai, a consultant appointed by the BMC.

The accident has now raised serious questions over the accuracy of the structural audit with the same consultant having audited several bridges in the city. This is the second major collapse in last one year. Last year, Andheri’s G K Gokhale Road overbridge also collapsed, killing two people.  

The bridge, known locally as Kasab Bridge, was constructed in 1988 and is around 35 years old with last repairs undertaken in 2010-11. In 2016, under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the northern end of the bridge was taken up for beautification, but not repairs. The plan included changing the tiles and a fresh coat of paint.

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After the Elphinstone Road Bridge collapse in 2017, the BMC had ordered a structural audit of all city bridges, including the Himalaya Bridge. Officials on Thursday night said the consultant’s report had declared that the bridge was in a ‘safe condition’ and the bridge was categorised C II B category (minor repairs).

According to The Hindu, following the report, repair estimates were prepared, and a tender floated in the last few months, with a contractor finalised recently for the ‘minor repairs.’ The proposal to appoint the contractor was stalled after the announcement of the general elections and the implementation of the model code of conduct.

“We had never received any complaint regarding the structural stability. We only received complaints for broken tiles which we replaced. In fact, there was demand for an extra arm to this FOB,” Kiran Dighavkar, assistant municipal commissioner, told The Hindu.

Officials said that in south Mumbai, only three FOBs — Yellow Gate FOB (P D’Mello Road) and two FOBs near the Marine Lines railway station were to be reconstructed. While the estimated cost for the reconstruction, major and minor repair works is Rs 277 crore, the BMC has earmarked Rs 108 crore for it in 2019-20.

A civic officer has been quoted saying that the accident has in fact raised questions on all the audits done by this particular consultant and that the BMC are considering taking action against the consultant.

Additional municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal said the girders of the bridge were now being audited and by Friday morning a decision would be taken on whether they too needed to be demolished. A portion of the road divider across the D N Road was demolished and will be used as pedestrian crossing for commuters.

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