'Andheri bridges gap was due to lack of coordination'

MUMBAI: A single member committee set up by Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani to look into the reasons, which led to the mismatch between the newly constructed Gokhale bridge and the CD Barfiwala flyover in Andheri, has submitted its report. The report, submitted by Additional Municipal Commissioner Amit Saini, who carried out the fact-finding probe to find out what prevented the civic body from ensuring that the arms of the bridge and flyover matched, has stated that lack of coordination between agencies had led to a situation like this. BMC Commissioner and administrator Bhushan Gagrani said that an explanation would be sought from concerned officials. “There has been an act of omission on part of the officials and an explanation will be sought,” said a senior BMC official.

The BMC had drawn flak from citizens for the misalignment between the CD Barfiwala flyover and the newly constructed Gokhale Bridge in Andheri, when the first phase of the bridge was inaugurated in February this year.

Civic officials had then passed the buck to the railways, the policy of the railways changed, and the height of the new Gokhale Bridge had to be increased.

BMC officials had pointed out that the fact-finding exercise was carried out to ensure that the civic body does not face this kind of a situation in future. It is meant to be a learning exercise and not meant to punish officials, said a BMC official.

After the misalignment came to light, the BMC approached the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), which submitted a report to the BMC, stating that the merger of the two bridges was feasible without having to demolish the Barfiwala flyover. This assessment was later validated by experts from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B). Subsequently, the BMC carried out work on alignment of Gokhale bridge with the CD Barfiwala flyover in Andheri and opened it to traffic. Dhaval Shah, director of Andheri Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizen's Association (LOCA), said “BMC officials were aware of the height difference between two from day one. Negligence should be nipped in the bud, so as to ensure that this is not repeated in other BMC projects. Corrective action should be taken.”