Central Railway (CR) will shut the foot overbridge (FoB) connecting Kalyan station to Lokgram on the east on Saturday at midnight, as it was declared unsafe in the audit report led by Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay. The 313.84-m long and 3.66-m wide FoB is the only direct access for east-west connectivity for the 50,000-60,000 residents of Lokgram in Kalyan (East). Although the bridge will be shut from Saturday midnight, CR has not announced when the repairs will take place and when the FoB will be reopened. Commuters, who will now have to depend on the Karjat-end FoB, have questioned CR’s move and demanded immediate repairs.CR officials said the railway police force and commercial officials will be deployed at the station to assist passengers when the bridge is shut. “CR had announced about the closure of the bridge to avoid inconvenience. A board has been put up at the station,” said AK Jain, public relations officer, (PRO) CR. Officials said the portion of the FoB, which runs over Kalyan railway yard is weak and needs repair. Sunil Udasi, chief PRO, CR, said, “We’ve written to the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), asking for ₹1.38 crore for the repairs. As of now, CR is closing the bridge.” KDMC’s executive engineer Tarun Juneja said CR’s demand will be sanctioned once polls are over. Sudha Patil, 32, a Lokgram resident, who travels to Dadar daily, said, “If the bridge will be only shut now, then how long should we wait? CR should figure out an alternative or repair the FoB before it rains.”
