Gokhale bridge: CAG slams BMC’s bridges department

Audit body slams civic authority over various shortcomings in projects with focus on Gokhale bridge connecting Andheri East and West, closure of which has affected many residents. It includes awarding contracts without tenders, cost escalation due to delay in permissions for design changes and undue favour to contractor.

Mumbai: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has passed strictures on the bridges department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for various shortcomings in projects with focus on Gokhale bridge connecting Andheri East and West, closure of which has affected many residents.

Mumbai, India - March 13, 2023: Gokhale Bridge, a major connector between Andheri East and West, completely dismantled in the morning, at Andheri, in Mumbai, India, on Monday, March 13, 2023. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

It includes awarding contracts without tenders, cost escalation due to delay in permissions for design changes and undue favour to contractor. A part of the Gokhale bridge collapsed on July 3, 2018 and inspections led to closure and reconstruction was recommended. The report was tabled in the state legislature on Saturday.

After receiving the recommendations of the structural auditors, BMC, initially issued a tender in July 2019 inviting bids for an estimated cost of ₹87.61 crore for demolition and reconstruction of the Gokhale Bridge.

However, due to receipt of only a single bid, the tender was cancelled on the orders of the municipal commissioner (August 2019). BMC re-invited the tender (30 August 2019) in which two bidders participated. The work was awarded to the lowest bidder M/s SMS Infrastructure Limited at ₹103.38 crore which was 18% above the estimated cost.

The CAG also said that there was lack of co-ordination between Western Railway (WR) and the BMC as it took more than 24 months to arrive at a decision on the minimum height of soffit of the proposed girder from the highest Rail Track Level (RTL). Consequently, the contractor had not executed the works as per the targetted milestones. Any action taken by BMC to prioritise the work was not on record.

The audit observed that even after collapse of a part of the Gokhale Bridge, BMC did not plan for reconstruction of the bridge in a timely manner. Instead, WR with the concurrence of BMC carried out heavy repair works to steel girder pathway and PSC girder span on the Gokhale Bridge along with repair of the Pipeline Bridge from October 2018 to February 2020 on deposit basis with funds from BMC at a cost of ₹6.14 crore. BMC should have planned reconstruction of the Gokhale after recommendations of the structural auditor, it said.

Demolition of the approach road and its reconstruction started in April 2020 while the demolition work of the railway portion of the Gokhale bridge started in November 2022 and reconstruction work started in January 2023. The bridge was completely closed for public use from November 7 2022. Thus, the demolition and reconstruction work of the Gokhale Bridge was delayed by almost four years.

The report says that as per the procurement manual, all the works costing above ₹3 lakhs should be awarded by inviting e-tenders. The CAG observed that the emergency structural work for strengthening of the Gokhale bridge at an estimated cost of ₹4.66 crore was awarded on April 25, 2019 to J Kumar, who was executing a different work near Gokhale bridge.

The work was awarded without issuing any tender and with the of approval the municipal commissioner on April 22, 2019. The work was completed and payment of ₹9.19 crore made on February 26 2020. The CAG says that this was an undue favour to the contractor.

In reply, chief engineer, Bridges, had reasoned in January 2023 that the work of had to be done urgently. The CAG replied to this that the reason provided was not tenable.

The GKG Bridge had been declared as dilapidated in August 2018 and the additional work was awarded after almost nine months on April 25, 2019. So, there was sufficient time to appoint a contractor by following the tender procedure and therefore, award of contract without tendering process was incorrect and not justifiable, said CAG report.

The chief engineer told the CAG that the structural audit of the BMC portion of the bridge was carried out by structural auditor C V Kand, who declared it dilapidated and structural audit of Railway portion was carried out by IIT Mumbai and accordingly, Railways carried out repair works of PSC girder span across Harbour line on deposit basis.

As the BMC portion of the bridge was in a dilapidated condition, the BMC decided to shut down the traffic on Gokhale Bridge without consulting Railways. The CAG said reply is not tenable as the recommendation of the structural auditor for the demolition and reconstruction of Gokhale Bridge had not been adhered to by the BMC in a timely manner.

As per the minutes of the meeting (11 November 2022) held with Western Railway Officers and AMC (Projects), DMC (Infrastructure) and Chief Engineer Bridge, it was decided that WR would demolish the existing bridge

The audit observed that as per condition of the tender, if the work is allotted to a contractor, who is not registered with BMC, the contractor should apply for registration with BMC within three months from the date of issue of the work order failing which the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) would be forfeited and an amount equal to the registration fee of the respective class would be recovered as penalty by BMC.

Audit report observed that the contractor had not registered with the BMC for some works on the bridge and no penal action was taken.

The CAG has also slammed the BMC bridge projects to give better connectivity to the Saat-Rasta, Byculla on the east side of the railway tracks to Worli and Tardeo area on the west side

The CAG said that there was a huge delay in getting forest clearance for the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project (GMLR) envisages road connectivity from the Western Express Highway at Goregaon in the Western suburbs to the Eastern Express Highway at Mulund

There was a cost escalation from ₹4,500 crore in January 2019 had increased to ₹6,322 crore as of August 2022.