BMC, WR meet to speed up work on Gokhale Bridge

The two bodies met after additional commissioner (Projects), P Velrasu, visited the bridge last week. BMC and WR have been passing the buck on one another regarding the delay on the job.

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Western Railway (WR) met on Tuesday to speed up the construction of the key Andheri east-west connector -- Gokhale Bridge. The bridge was shut in September after it was declared dilapidated in the routine six monthly audit by BMC.

An official from BMC said, “The railways have to handover the bridge to us after demolition. Currently, WR has suggested changes in the final drawings once again; which means we cannot make our final purchases till the drawings are approved.” (HT PHOTO)

The two bodies met after additional commissioner (Projects), P Velrasu, visited the bridge last week. BMC and WR have been passing the buck on one another regarding the delay on the job.

Last week, WR issued a letter explaining that they were on track. The civic body however said that any delay in demolition of the bridge would have a domino effect of the timeline of the project’s completion.

An official from BMC said, “The railways have to handover the bridge to us after demolition. Currently, WR has suggested changes in the final drawings once again; which means we cannot make our final purchases till the drawings are approved.”

When questioned on the matter, Sanjay Kaundanyapure, chief engineer, bridges department, hesitated to get into the details and said, “It is for our seniors to decide, we have sent our suggestions to them.”

In its budget presented on Saturday, BMC said that it had completed only 10 per cent of the approaches of the bridge. On Tuesday, the civic body assured that two lanes of the bridge are likely to be thrown open before the monsoons.

“We had a productive meeting with railways. The work is going on as planned. There were some technical issues, which have been ironed out. Since it is a complex project involving parallel work by two agencies, we discussed time sequencing of all tasks. Both WR and BMC are working to meet the monsoon deadline,” he said.