After Mumbai FoB collapse, BMC orders 2 other auditors to reinspect 257 bridges in a month

The auditors have been given a month’s time to inspect the previous audit report, redo the tests conducted on the bridges and submit the final report.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday ordered the other two auditors who inspected 257 bridges in the city to re-audit the structures after a foot overbridge (FoB) near CSMT collapsed on Thursday, killing six people. The auditors have been given a month’s time to inspect the previous audit report, redo the tests conducted on the bridges and submit the final report. These tests were previously conducted over two years, from 2016 to 2018.

The foot overbridge leading to CSMT collapsed on Thursday, killing six people.(HT File)

The BMC’s order to the two auditors, CV Kand Consultants Pvt Ltd and Structwel Designers and Consultants Pvt Ltd, who inspected bridges in western and eastern suburbs respectively, mentions that Thursday’s incident happened due to “careless investigation of the structure.”

The BMC, however, is yet to take a call on who will re-audit the 39 bridges which the accused firm, D D Desai’s Associated Engineering Consultants and Analysts, had audited. The firm had, in its structural audit report of the CSMT bridge, declared it was in “good condition”. Vijay Singhal, additional municipal commissioner, who handles the bridges department, said, “We will take a call on appointing an auditor for the 39 bridges. The proposal may be brought in as an urgent business or the work may be divided among the two other auditors.”

However, a senior civic official from the bridges department said the repair work on the 39 bridges will continue as per the recommendations of Desai’s firm. “We will, however, also focus on the bridges which Desai’s firm had claimed were in ‘good’ condition or needed only minor repairs,” he said.

Currently, work on some of the bridges which needed repairs or demolition is going on as per the earlier audit report.

On February 28, 2019, BMC passed a proposal worth ₹15.33 crore for major repairs of bridges in zone two (in areas like Dadar, Parel, Worli, Prabhadevi) based on the audit by Desai’s firm, without much discussion owing to the model code of conduct which had to set in. The committee cleared 66 proposals, including this one, out of 80 proposals.