Mumbai: The partial opening of the new Gopal Krishna Gokhale bridge, which was deferred from May till Diwali, is likely to be extended further. The reasons behind the probability are a huge hoarding in railway premises and 13 residential structures. They are obstructing the movement of a crane that has been deployed to assemble the girders for the crucial east-west connector. Hence, they need to be demolished, but the same isn't a cakewalk given the legal complexities.
While the BMC has requested the Western Railway to pull down the hoarding, the civic body will have to wait till monsoon end for razing the residential structures on the east side of Andheri. Speedy progress in the matter isn't possible as the court has strictly prohibited evicting people and demolishing their houses during rains.
Proposal to demolish structures sent to BMC chief
Additional Municipal Commissioner P Velrasu along with officials of the bridges department recently took a review of the construction work and identified the two major hurdles. However, the 13 structures are proving to be a bigger roadblock as they can't be touched till October. “Four of them are legal while nine others are encroached structures. We will need permission to demolish them as we cannot evict people during monsoon. So, we have sent a proposal to BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal,” said an official of K east ward.
Dismantling work to start soon: WR chief spokesman
Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Infrastructure) Ulhas Mahale said, “We took a review on Friday (and came to the conclusion that) a huge hoarding needs to be removed from the site for the better crane movement. We have informed the Western Railway and are also ready to pay the demolition cost. Their reply is awaited.” Meanwhile, WR chief spokesman Sumit Thakur said, “We have taken a review and will soon start its (hoarding's) dismantling work.”
The already delayed bridge work has faced several hurdles in the last eight months. Earlier, the work was hampered owing to a strike at a Rourkela plant, which supplied steel for the project. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had to step in to address the problem. Another bolt from the blue was the inundation of Ambala workshop where bridge structure was fabricated. The force majeure again delayed the work by weeks. The bridge was closed for pedestrian and traffic movement from November 2022.
