The curse of Andheri traffic hits dumper now

An official from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) K East ward said, “The road has very heavy traffic hence the work on the cover cannot happen on site. We have started the fabrication work of the new cover elsewhere and once it is ready, it will be fixed here

Citizens of Andheri, Mumbai’s largest suburb, are likely to have a rough run on the road in the days ahead. After the closure of Gokhale Bridge, a spot on the lane near Tiwari Chowk, in Andheri East, has been barricaded as an overloaded dumper ruptured the cover (3.5 meters by 3.5 meters) of a storm water drain on Saturday morning.

Mumbai, India - December 03, 2022: East to West traffic was slow as a metal manhole cover collapsed after a dumper truck drove over it, at Tiwari Chowk, Andheri, in Mumbai, India, on Saturday, December 03, 2022. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

The road leads to the Andheri Subway. The subway witnessed heavy traffic, after it was chosen as one of the alternate routes for east-west connectivity in the suburb, following the closure of Gokhale Bridge. Since the closure of the bridge, this route faces heavy traffic snarls throughout the day.

Soon after the dumper sunk into the manhole, the area around Tiwari Chowk witnessed traffic snarls, which sustained till the vehicle was removed.

An official from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) K East ward said, “The road has very heavy traffic hence the work on the cover cannot happen on site. We have started the fabrication work of the new cover elsewhere and once it is ready, it will be fixed here. It will be able to take thrice the load compared to the previous one. It had ruptured as the truck passing over it was very heavily loaded.”

The civic body will take two to three days to complete the job. A design consultant has been brought in to ensure the new cover is able to bear the load of heavy traffic.

Residents of the area, an already nervous lot following Gokhale Bridge’s closure, are now bracing themselves for yet another challenge -- to negotiate traffic over the next few days.

Dhaval Shah, founder of Andheri Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens Association, said, “Andheri Subway is of paramount importance, now that Gokhale Bridge is shut. Such incidents of a large metal cover over a nullah caving in is very serious, as it may have led to the road also breaking or caving in, leading to this route being shut for weeks. Movement of heavy vehicles must be restricted here with a height barrier for vehicles so that such incidents do not occur early in the morning, where there are no traffic constables to guard the route. Also, the metal cover needs to be strong, so that such incidents do not take place again.”

H Varadarajan, another citizen of Andheri, said, “I had a dentist’s appointment near Vishal Hall in Andheri East on Saturday – the nearest route is via the subway. When I reached the subway at around 8:45am, I was told that the road is shut. My dentist was also caught in the same jam. I had to cancel, since we could not have made it to his chamber on time.”

Shivaji Bhandwalkar, senior police inspector, Sahar traffic division, was somewhat optimistic, as he said, “It is in the corner and not centre of the road hence the road will be kept open and it will not have any traffic problems.”

Meanwhile, MLA of Andheri West, Ameet Satam, shared that railway tender for the demolition of Gokhale Bridge was opened on Friday. “So now both tenders – for demolition by railways and construction by BMC -- are in place,” said Satam.

On November 30, BMC awarded the work for reconstruction on railway portion of the bridge to A B Infrabuild . Ltd.