Gokhale bridge fiasco: Politicians step in, will be hit ya miss?

The BMC and WR officials met on Friday morning to discuss the fate of the railway portion of the Gokhale Road bridge with the latter refusing to undertake the demolition work It was after Mangal Prabhat Lodha guardian minister of Mumbai suburbs chaired a second meeting Western Railway agreed to demolish the part of the bridge The BMC will bear the cost of demolition It then aims to rebuild at least two lanes by June 2023At the first meeting on Friday the WR officials stood firm on their stand that the BMC demolish the railway portion of the bridge and that they will extend any assistance required for the purpose ldquoThe railway officials were cooperative but there were some issues regarding the floating of the tender for demolition The issue has been resolved and WR will float the tender for demolitionrdquo said a civic officialAlso read Mumbai WR BMC formalise plans to demolish rebuild shut Gokhale bridgeGokhale bridge in Andheri was closed on November 7 PicNimesh DaveAndheri MLA Ameet Satam said ldquoOn Thursday Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke with the Railways minister following which Lodha called a highlevel meeting at my requestrdquo At the meeting it was also decided to seek a second opinion on the bridgersquos structural report and to evaluate if one half can be opened for pedestrians and twowheelers The BMC expects a report in this regard in a week P Velrasu additional commissioner of the BMC ldquoBut it will not be opened for fourwheelers or any other vehicles Any decision will strictly depend on the reportrdquoWR to float tenderWestern Railway WR will float a tender for the demolition work with the plan to demolish two of the four lanes by March ldquoUntil then the BMC will assemble the partsWe will start reconstruction by March and complete it by June 2023 The BMC will float a tender for reconstruction of the bridge on Saturdayrdquo said VelrasuThe BMC will reconstruct the second half of the bridge by September 2023 The civic body closed the Gokhale Road bridge in Andheri on November 7 MLA Satam added ldquoWork on making precast material of the new bridge will start simultaneously as the bridge is being demolished By March the BMC will start the work on assembly of precast material on the siterdquoldquoAt the meeting held at Mantralaya between 6 pm and 645 pm on Friday chaired by Mr Lodha Western Railway headquarters agreed that demolition of the railway portion of the old Gokhale Road overbridge in Andheri will be carried out by Western Railway Survey and Construction organisation First northlane carriageway Virarend will be demolished by March 15 2023 and the southlane carriageway Dadarend will be demolished after the northlane is constructed and opened for traffic The tender for construction of complete bridge railway portion as well as the approach roads will be floated by the BMC on November 12 2022rdquo a WR spokesperson saidlsquoBMC has no expertisersquoldquoThe BMC does not have any expertise in demolition of bridges on the railway tracks and we are ready to pay the cost to the Western Railway There are live cables and if any portion falls and damages the track then it will be more seriousrdquo Velrasu saidldquoThe Railways has carried out the demolition work of all the bridges on the rail lines and it has the expertise For the demolition of the railway portion of Gokhale bridge we will pay them the cost We will start the process of tender for reconstruction of the bridgerdquo Ulhas Mahale deputy commissioner of the BMCThe estimated cost for demolition will be decided by WR The cost of the reconstruction of the railway part is R8472 crore said officials The process of opening the tenders will be completed by November 30 The contract of Rs 138 crore for the reconstruction of the approach roads was given in February 2020Resurfacing of alternative roads doneThe Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said on Friday that it has completed the resurfacing of alternative routes for the Gokhale bridge including Nehru Road Military Camp Road Khar Bhuyari Marg and N S Phadke road ldquoConsidering the increasing number of vehicles on alternative routes due to the closure of the Gokhale Road bridge resurfacing of the roads was done at nightrdquo said an official from the BMC ldquoAfter the resurfacing of the important roads the civic administration is taking up the works to ensure all the alternative roads are in good conditionrdquo the official added