On Monday, the structural auditor Neerajkumar Desai, who was arrested in connection with CSMT foot overbridge (FoB) collapse, approached the sessions court for bail and claimed that his firm in 2016 pointed out that the FOB was structurally weak.
According to Hindustan Times, 46-year-old Desai has claimed that after the first audit in 2016, his firm had pointed out cracks in the parapets, railings along with broken stair treads and risers, to the BMC. “It is noteworthy to mention that steel NDT tests were not specified in the tender document published by BMC. This is seen from the fact that only concrete NDT tests and/or rates have been mentioned in the tender. The applicant’s company deemed NDT of the steel structure essential and suggested the same to BMC via an audit report dated October 26, 2016, (sic)” read the bail plea filed by Desai.
The Azad Maidan police last week submitted its first charge sheet. The police have arrested our people, including Desai and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) engineers. During the hearing, the prosecution had questioned the audit done by Desai’s firm and said they did not conduct some important tests.
But before the tests were done, Desai said the ward officer on the instruction of the then civic chief carried out work for refurbishment. Desai said in his bail plea blamed the alleged repair to be the ultimate cause of damage to the bridge. In his bail plea Desai said, “Approximately 14 tonnes of rough granite stone slabs of size 25-30 mm were laid on the deck of the FOB without any stability test carried out by the BMC, to test and verify whether the 36-year-old FOB having been exposed to withering, heavy monsoons, climate changes, exponential increase in footfall, etc,” reported Hindustan Times.
