The Navi Mumbai Municipal Coporation (NMMC) had already awarded a ₹56-lakh work order to an agency to repair the foot overbridge (FOB) at Vashi Mini Seashore that collapsed on Thursday evening. A corporator, however, has claimed that the work order was only to change the railings, and not for the whole structure.
Assistant Municipal Commissioner Ravindra Patil said, “On March 8, we had given a work order of ₹56 lakh for the bridge to the firm Srinivas and Engineering. The bridge connected two holding ponds and was not used frequently.”
On asking if the work order was only for the railing, Mr. Patil said it was for the whole bridge.
Corporator Divya Gaikwad has claimed that no audit of the FOB was ever conducted. “The agency to which the NMMC had awarded the work order deals only in railing work, so how would it repair the rest of the bridge? The NMMC is trying to hide the facts,” Ms. Gaikwad said.
‘Raised issue thrice’
She said the bridge was a disaster waiting to happen. It had been in a bad condition for more than a year and the NMMC had not done anything. “I have raised this issue in at least three standing committee meetings, and every time got false assurances. The bridge is connected to a pump house, which is also in a very bad state. This pump house diverts the water accumulated in the city during monsoon into the sea. The operator of the pump house uses this bridge every day, and he was the first one to see the incident and inform us,” Ms. Gaikwad said. She said had the two men who were injured been a little behind where they were, they would have fallen into the creek.
‘Always afraid of bridge’
Pump house operator Ramkaran Saroj said, “Around 7.30 p.m. on Thursday, when I was on duty, I heard the cries of two men. Once I realised the bridge had collapsed and two men had fallen, I sought help and we pulled them up. They were crying in pain. This bridge always made me afraid to come to work.”
Meanwhile, the Vashi police have registered a case against NMMC officials under Sections 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code.
“We are investigating to find who was the officer responsible for the FIB’s maintenance, and will name the person in the FIR accordingly,” senior police inspector Anil Deshmukh said.
