Rain washes away tiles, railings of Ulhasnagar bridge

While the condition of bridges at railway stations in Mumbai has been under scrutiny with the city’s civic body announcing it would carry out a re-audit of bridges

While the condition of bridges at railway stations in Mumbai has been under scrutiny with the city’s civic body announcing it would carry out a re-audit of bridges in the island city, commuters at Ulhasnagar railway station continue to use a bridge with broken tiles and without railings.

HT Image

On July 27, following heavy rain which led to Waldhuni river overflowing, the railings and tiles on a connecting bridge at Ulhasnagar railway station were washed away.

While the bridge regularly gets submerged under river water when there is continuous heavy downpour, this is the first time that portions were washed away. This bridge is the only way to reach Chandibai Himathmal Mansukhani (CHM) College from the station and is used by both students and other commuters.

Estimated to be nearly 40 years old, the bridge is maintained by the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC), which has put up banners asking commuters to not use the bridge.

UMC’s public relations officer Yuvraj Badhane said, “We could not take up repair work of the bridge because it has been raining continuously. We have alerted people to not take the bridge. They are still using it. Soon we will take up the repair work and fix the railing and tiles.”

Commuters told HT that the alternative route is a skywalk that is a distance away and therefore inconvenient. “The skywalk takes more time. Also the skywalk is not safe as it has drunkards and beggars occupying it,”said Sushil Lalwani,37, who uses the bridge daily. “We are now walking through broken tiles and have to be very careful as there is no railing,” said Sushama Mahtre, 23, a student of CHM College.