Mumbai: Lower Parel's Railway ROB Closed, But BMC and Western Railways Are Sparring on Who Will Reconstruct it

Mumbai, July 25: Although Lower Parel's Delisle Bridge has been closed both for traffic and pedestrian use from Tuesday onwards, there is a rift between two authorities-- BMC and Western Railways on who will reconstruct it. According to news reports, the two authorities are perplexed and are passing the buck to each other, shirking from the responsibility of constructing the bridge. As per a report in the Times of India, BMC is not willing to take up the work as the position of the current bridge is above the railway tracks. So, the civic bridges department officers say that BMC does not construct such bridges from the safety point of view.

SS Kori, the chief engineer of BMC's Bridges Department, was quoted as saying, "We have already communicated to the railways about the restrictions we would be facing and also told them that the civic body would incur the construction cost of the bridge instead." The officer further clarified that Railways Act 1989 states that over and under bridge work should be executed by the railways and the BMC would incur the cost of work as well as that of maintenance.

On the other end, the western railways want the BMC to undertake the bridge repair and construction work. The Division Railway Manager of Western Railways Sanjay Mishra was quoted as saying, "The bridge is at an angle of 64 degrees and the pillars of the bridge fall in the municipalities jurisdiction. Moreover, Ravindra Bhakar, the chief public relation officer of the western railway added that under the bridge, there are several utility cables hence, the civic authority is the right one to handle the issue.

Furthermore, as the road overbridge has been shut, the alternate routes have been suggested for both pedestrian and vehicular movement. For instance, the pedestrians have to walk under the flyover and take the foot overbridge (FOB) at Lower Parel station to cross over to the other side.  Traffic proceeding from Bharat Mata junction to Shingate  Master Chowk can take a left turn from Shingate Chowk towards NM Joshi Marg. Similarly, the traffic moving from Arthur Road Jail to Shingate Chowk can a take right turn at the Shingate Chowk towards Bharat Mata Junction. Vehicles coming from Worli Naka can take right or left from at Yadav Chowk for Senapati Bapat Marg.

The report further mentions that the railway has called an expression of interest (EOI) for the appointment of consultants and structural engineers to conduct an audit of the bridge before rebuilding the ROB. Referring to this, the BMC ridiculed the rift, saying that railways are taking up the work and they have started the procedure. While the railway officials said that irrespective of who takes up the work, the entire process will take at least two years and the tender will take three months. The demolition of the bridge will be carried out in the next three months said the railway officials.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 25, 2018 11:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).