BMC starts reconstruction work on Bandra skywalk

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started reconstructing a skywalk in Bandra, connecting the family court to the railway station

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started reconstructing a skywalk in Bandra, connecting the family court to the railway station. The old structure built by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) was pulled down in 2019 after a structural audit declared it unsafe.

People walk on the footpath near the dismantled skywalk in Bandra on Friday Vijay Bate/HT Photo

Satish Thosar, chief engineer with the bridges department, said, “We have already laid the foundation while the testing and piling work is under way. The 500-metre skywalk will be completed next year.”

This arm of the skywalk over Anant Kanekar Marg is crucial as lakhs of pedestrians used to take it while coming from the Bandra East side of the station. The MMRDA will be responsible for building the other arm - from the station to Kalanagar junction.

“We will add an escalator from the family court side and will connect to the foot overbridge of the railway,” Thosar said.

This skywalk will help reduce the traffic around the autorickshaw stand at the station. “It will also be convenient for those going towards Harbour or Western line. At present, commuters have to cross the road from the station,” he said.

A BMC official said the delay in the reconstruction work was because they were waiting for a dry period.

The MMRDA had constructed a four-metre-wide skywalk at a cost of ₹13.63 crore in 2008. But after the collapse of the Himalaya foot overbridge near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the civic body ordered a structural audit by Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute of all structures. After the skywalk was declared dilapidated and unsafe, it was demolished in 2019.