Mumbai: The already delayed partial opening of Andheri's Gopal Krishna Gokhale bridge, which was pushed to October, seems to extend further. The reason is severe flooding in north India, which has impacted the ongoing fabrication work of the bridge in Ambala. This is yet another roadblock in the construction of the crucial east-west connector. Earlier, a strike at the plant, which is supplying steel for the mega work, had cast a shadow over the project.
The steel supply has just started in full swing and the BMC was on schedule to open one arm of the bridge by Diwali this year. However, nature disrupted the plan as there has been heavy inundation at the Ambala workshop. “It will take three weeks to one month's time to resume the fabrication work. Hence, there will be some delay in opening one arm of the bridge,” said a senior civic official.
25% of work on the fabrication of the girder completed: Source
The work order for reconstruction has been given to AB Infrabuild Ltd, while the fabrication work is being done by HMM Infra Ltd in Ambala. The fabricated steel structure will be constructed and assembled in the workshop at Ambala and then it will be brought to Andheri. The BMC had purchased 1,270 metric tonnes of steel for the girder weighing about 1,250 tonnes. So far, the Ambala workshop has completed more than 25% of work on the fabrication of the girder, said a civic source.
As the bridge has been shut, motorists are compelled to either take Andheri subway or Vinayak Gore flyover as alternate routes. However, they are caught between a rock and a hard place as the subway is shut most of the time due to waterlogging during monsoon. Even on Monday, it was closed for the same reason.
