Noida team visits Chandni chowk to study old bridge before demolition

Noida-based consultancy ‘Edifice Engineering’ visited Chandni chowk along with NHAI officials to study old bridge before demolition

PUNE: Ever since state chief minister Eknath Shinde paid a visit to Chandni chowk and instructed the authorities to put pedal to metal, work on extending the highway lanes and demolition of the old bridge has picked up pace. Not only that, a team from ‘Edifice Engineering’, a Noida-based consultancy, on Thursday visited Chandni chowk along with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials to help and guide the country’s highway authority in this work. Edifice Engineering is the same company that recently demolished 32 floors of Noida’s Supertech Twin Towers on August 28. The company team is in Pune for two days to inspect and study the old bridge at Chandni chowk after which a report will be submitted to the district administration.

Noida-based consultancy ‘Edifice Engineering’ visited Chandni chowk along with NHAI officials to study old bridge before demolition. (RAVINDRA JOSHI/HT)

Gurdeep Singh Parmar, CEO, Edifice Engineering, said, “Today, we have come for preliminary checks and to visit the site and hold meetings with the NHAI and Pune district administration. Now we will study the entire project of the Chandni chowk new flyover bridges, underpass highway and how the old bridge should be demolished. Once we complete our study, we will submit our report to the district administration and accordingly, further decisions will be taken by the NHAI and Pune district officials.”

Dr Rajesh Deshmukh, Pune district collector, said, “Since the last few days, we are all working on the demolition of the old bridge at Chandni chowk as instructed by Shinde and for that, we are taking consultancy guidance from Edifice Engineering, which recently demolished the huge twin towers at Noida. Through their expertise, we will be able to smoothly carry out this demolition process and so, a team of senior officials of the company has come to Pune today for a two-day visit.”

On August 27, the CM’s convoy was stuck in traffic at Chandni chowk while he was travelling to Satara. While some of the locals who saw Shinde stuck in traffic approached him and raised the issue of daily logjams on this stretch. They told the CM that nearly two to three hours were spent daily in traffic snarls at Chandni chowk used by around 6 lakh people, most of them going towards Hinjewadi IT park and Mumbai. Accordingly now, the old bridge at the chowk will be demolished between September 12 and 15 and preparations for the same have started. On Monday, over 50 traffic wardens were deployed at various spots around Chandni chowk to monitor the traffic flow, especially that of heavy vehicles during morning and evening peak hours.

While NHAI Pune project director Sanjay Kadam said, “The works related to the demolition of the old bridge are currently going on in full swing and today, detailed discussions were held with the team of Edifice Engineering. They are here for the preliminary study of the old bridge and once they conduct a complete review, they will submit a report about how to carry out the demolition work.”