The Gopal Krishna Gokhale bridge in Andheri, which is a crucial east-west connector, will not fully reopen before the monsoon season. A civic official fears that the work of fabrication may not be completed on time due to a strike at the steel plant in Chandigarh. The BMC now expects to fully reopen the bridge by mid-November.
Fabrication work delayed: Gokhale bridge in Andheri may not reopen fully before monsoon
The bridge was closed on November 7 last year after being declared unsafe. Since then, traffic congestion in Andheri has increased. The BMC had earlier assured that it would try to reopen one arm of the bridge before monsoon and fully reopen it by September 2023. The railways completed dismantling the bridge last month, but the fabrication work of the bridge has been affected by the strike at the steel plant, according to civic sources.
On Wednesday, Additional Municipal Commissioner P. Velarasu, along with local MLA Ameet Satam, civic officials of the bridges department and the contractor, visited the site in Andheri. "There are only two manufacturers for this specialized steel equipment. Unfortunately, due to a strike at the Roorkee plant of SAIL, there was an indefinite delay, and SAIL has not been able to commit a date for delivery," said Ameet Satam.
BMC expects the bridge to open by Diwali
"The contractor has placed an order with Jindal, and the delivery will start by the end of this month and will be fully completed by July 15. The BMC's portion of the bridge will be completed by June. While the work on the railway portion will require three months and then it will be assembled and finished. At this point in time, the BMC expects the bridge to open by Diwali, which is mid-November. While we understand that this will be a five-month delay from the earlier committed date of May end, we need to understand that this is a highly specialized job, and the BMC is working on the railway portion as per the specifications of the railways."
The BMC had floated tenders for the reconstruction of the railway portion of the existing Gokhale rail over bridge on November 12, 2022. The new bridge is being constructed at a cost of around Rs 90 crore.
