Gokhale Bridge: BMC chief writes to Jindal steel, SAIL for early delivery of materials

Iqbal Singh Chahal, commissioner and administrator, BMC, has written to Naveen Jindal, chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, and Soma Mondal, chairman, Steel Authority of India Ltd highlighting the importance of Gokhale Bridge given its location.

Mumbai: The chief of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has written to two steel manufacturers requesting them for early supply of materials ordered by the civic body’s contractor for the reconstruction of Gokhale Bridge. Recently, the BMC had pushed the deadline to reopen the bridge from May to mid-November.

July 14, 2020: Iqbal Singh Chahal, takes charge as the New BMC Commissioner on May 8, 2020.

Iqbal Singh Chahal, commissioner and administrator, BMC, has written to Naveen Jindal, chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, and Soma Mondal, chairman, Steel Authority of India Ltd highlighting the importance of the bridge given its location.

In his letter dated April 19, Chahal wrote that Gokhale Bridge is an important link near Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and Andheri metro railway station. He said that millions of commuters pass daily from Andheri railway station, which has an intersection to all the three railway lines; Central, Western and Harbour lines.

“This bridge is a vital link for East to West connectivity in Andheri for commuters, students and public at large,” Chahal wrote in the letter.

Chahal said the reconstruction of the bridge at Andheri railway station is an urgent task and various meetings by local MPs/MLAs were convened to complete Phase-I by June 2023. “The supply of the required material of Open Web Girder (OWG) to fabrication plant at Ambala is a need on top priority,” he said.

Confirming the development, an official from the BMC’s bridges department, said, “There was disruption in the production line of SAIL at their Rourkela plant. Both SAIL and Jindal will be supplying the materials.”

BMC, which has been repeatedly pushing the deadline of reopening the bridge, has received flak from citizens as well as local elected representatives. Suheil Merchant, a resident of Andheri West, who travels to work in Andheri East said, “I never expected the bridge to be reopened on the date the government had announced but I did hope that it should happen. With the onset of monsoons, it will get even more chaotic for the travellers as the alternative routes are not well made and a lot of traffic will be diverted there.”

Merchant added, “Earlier, I used to take 20 minutes to reach my office from home but now, the time has doubled and during monsoons, it will increase manifold. Earlier, policemen used to be near the subway to manage but since the start of April, number of police personnel managing traffic have been reduced as people have become so used to the traffic problem.”

The CAG report on Gokhale bridge had said that the demolition and reconstruction of the bridge was delayed by almost four years. “Audit observed that even after the serious incident of collapse of a part of the GKG Bridge in July 2018 and recommendations of the structural auditor, BMC did not plan for reconstruction of the bridge in a timely manner.

“Instead, Western Railway with the concurrence of BMC carried out heavy repair works to steel girder pathway and PSC girder span on the 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 for the reconstruction of the bridge immediately following the recommendations of the structural auditor.”

It also added, “The approach road demolition and reconstruction was started in April 2020 while the demolition work of the railway portion of the bridge started in November 2022 and reconstruction work started in January 2023. The bridge was completely closed for public use from 07 November 2022. Thus, the demolition and reconstruction work of the bridge was delayed by almost four years.”