BMC to rebuild Andheri’s Gokhale bridge

BMC will be rebuilding a part of the Gokhale bridge near the Andheri station, which had collapsed on July 3, this year. A state of gross negligence lend to the collapse of the Gokhale bridge.

Constructed in 1950, the Gokhale bridge is one of the important east-west connectors in Andheri.

The collapse of the Gokhale bridge had claimed two lives, which led to the state-wide inspection of all the bridges in the city. The incident had compelled Civic chief Ajoy Mehta to do an audit of more than 400 bridges allover the city, thus making him approve the reconstruction plan of the bridge.

As per the civic offcials, the said Andheri bridge has to be demolished because it is beyond repairs. “After careful inspection, it was decided that the bridge will have to be shut and rebuilt. The process will take at least a year, to begin with. A presentation on reconstruction of the bridge will be made before the Municipal Commissioner soon,” said an official of the Bridges department as quoted in FPJ.

The audit report stated that the main reason for the bridge to collapse is the extra weight put by the utility cables and paver blocks. “This cannot be done without keeping the bridge shut. So, like the Lower Parel bridge, this one too will be dismantled and rebuilt,” as said by the officials. In a sorry state of affairs, for over two years the proposal to repair the Gokhale bridge was stuck with the civic body because no tenders were floated.

In the meantime, Ashok Datar, city transport expert said, “Andheri is a commercial area and has tremendous vehicular movement. This is an important bridge and should not be completely closed, as it will only add to the existing congestion.”

Also read: Victims injured in the Andheri bridge collapse succumbed to their injuries