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Around ten days after the Railways deemed the Delisle bridge, across railway tracks at Lower Parel, to be unsafe, a tender for its demolition is set to be floated on Thursday. With neither the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) nor the railways agreeing to rebuild the bridge, those who used it in central Mumbai would be inconvenienced for what could be an unforeseen duration of time. On July 24, the railways shut the bridge for pedestrians and vehicles after a structural audit by the Indian Institute of Technology-Powai found it to be “heavily corroded”. The IIT report suggested that the bridge be demolished at the earliest. The day after the bridge was shut, a stampede-like situation was seen near Lower Parel station with lakhs of commuters forced to walk through a narrow service lane and a foot over bridge to reach the station. A day later, the railways opened a part of Delisle bridge for pedestrians after the BMC intervened. The bridge is closed for vehicles. Last week, the railways had called for Expressions of Interest to allow technical consultants to suggest a suitable method for rebuilding the bridge. “As suggested by the IIT team, the construction wing of the railways will float a tender on Thursday for demolition of the bridge. The bridge is unfit for vehicles. Once the tender is floated, we will finalise a contractor within 14 days and the bridge would be demolished within three months,” a senior Western Railway official said. While the tender was expected to be floated on Wednesday, Western Railway spokesperson Ravinder Bhaker said certain procedures are pending. “The tender documents have been finalised. Some processes are left. The tender is likely to be floated on Thursday,” he said. In the past one week, pedestrians have complained of heavy rush at the entry and exit points of Lower Parel station from Delisle bridge. “I try to make it 15 minutes early to the station so that I am not late to office. As the rush is heavy in the morning peak hours, I have to get into a queue to get out of the station,” said Rajesh Kadam, a corporate professional working in a Lower Parel commercial tower. Another commuter, Asha Kilkani, who uses Lower Parel station everyday, claimed that she has stopped using the bridge after seeing the crowd last week. “No authority had any concrete public dispersal plan in place for pedestrians. There was no signage or staff to guide us. The situation might be the same after the bridge is shut permanently,” she said. Railway officials have asked the municipality to work with the traffic department regarding crowd dispersal and providing motorists with alternative routes. Subhash Gupta, a member of the Zonal Railway User Consultative committee, said: “The railways must not seek demolition of the bridge before an alternative plan is ready. If they do, it may be a repeat of the Hancock bridge disaster. We are yet to see an alternative bridge there, despite the demolition two years ago.” Other bridges that are shut Carnac rail overbridge, Masjid The traffic police shut movement of heavy vehicles on the bridge in 2014 after a structural audit by the railways. The construction of a new bridge in its place was delayed following litigation. In April 2018, the Bombay High Court directed the BMC and the railways to construct a new bridge immediately. Hancock bridge, Sandhurst Road The 136-year-old Hancock bridge, which linked Mazgaon and Sandhurst Road, was demolished in 2016. An activist filed a PIL in the High Court over deaths near Sandhurst Road station after the bridge was demolished. After the HC asked for its reconstruction, the standing committee of BMC, in February 2018, passed a proposal to re-construct the bridge. G K Gokhale bridge, Andheri Part of the bridge collapsed on the railway tracks on July 3. After a team from IIT, Mumbai, inspected the bridge, it asked for the pedestrian pathway on the northern side to be shut. Frere bridge (Grant Road), Tilak Road bridge (Dadar), Carol Road bridge (Prabhadevi), Belassis bridge (Mumbai Central) and Mahalaxmi overbridge On July 22, 2018, IIT, Mumbai, recommended urgent repairs to the bridges calling them “unsafe to be used”. While traffic movement has not been suspended on these bridges, the BMC and the railways are yet to decide who will take up the repairs. |
