The BMC Road department officials visited the road in Girgaon which caved in on Monday morning, following the incessant rains. As per a senior BMC officer, "On inspection, no major water leakage was found as claimed by the MMRCL. The road may have possibly caved in because of the construction activity, including drilling by MMRCL right next to the spot."
The portion of the road of Babasaheb Jaykar Marg near Girgaon metro station caved in on Monday 9.30 am and a BEST bus tyre sunk in. Fortunately no passenger was injured.
The MMRCL in its statement said, "Water ingress was observed in the basement pit of the proposed Girgaon rehabilitation building, likely due to a nearby utility leakage. This seems to have caused ground loss forming a cavity that was not visible on surface."
"MMRCL is actively coordinating with BMC officials to trace and address any leakages from the water main, sewer main, or storm water drain SWD network," the statement said.
However, a BMC officer who visited the site said, "There was no major water leakage found on the portion of the road that caved in. In regards to sewer line leakage, the ward office can tell. However, the road caved in right next to the under-construction area by MMRCL. The drilling and construction work could have weakened the road."
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former mayor of Mumbai, Kishori Pednekar also visited the site on Monday morning. She said, "It's negligence by both MMRCL and BMC. There is no opposition to question their excessive construction activities, road works etc. All works underway as they please without thinking safety of Mumbaikars."
"The road caved in because of poor surface beneath. The rainwater and air caused the road to sunk in. It is engineers and officers duty to keep a check. The road will be now closed to traffic, causing more inconvenience to public."
Pednekar also said that she had complained about the road condition to the authorities, however, they paid no heed.
Additional Municipal Commissioner, Abhijit Bangar said that the portion of road will have to be reconstructed and the work will be done by MMRCL.
"During the inspection by Roads department it was found that road surface area admeasuring 30 mt x 10 mt is required to be re-excavated. The MMRCL official present during the inspection stated that geotechnical engineer has been called for investigation of the causes and then after MMRCL will start the work of reinstatement of the road portion," the official from BMC roads department said.
The visit by BMC officials also found that the main cause of settlement is may be soil movement below the road surface due to adjacent deep excavation, which is more than about 30 feet.
Meanwhile, the Babasaheb Jaykar Marg will remain closed for a stretch of 300 meters until road repair work is completed. Traffic on this route has been diverted via M.K. Road and Girgaon Church Road.
