The order of re-audit of the bridges was given by the then Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta after the Himalaya bridge collapse on March 14.
Better be safe than sorry. That seems to be the city civic body's policy to avoid any other bridge mishap in the city. After auditing and re-auditing of the bridges in Western and Eastern suburbs, now the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is ready with a proposal for a re-audit of the remaining bridges in South Mumbai. There are totally 78 bridges in the island city of Mumbai
The order of re-audit of the bridges was given by the then Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta after the Himalaya bridge collapse on March 14. The re-audit of Eastern and Western suburbs has been completed by the earlier auditors after Himalaya bridge collapse who found 15 more bridges in a dilapidated condition. In the earlier audit report, before the Himalaya bridge collapse 14 bridges were declared dangerous. The re-audit of the bridges in South Mumbai has not been done yet as BMC black-listed earlier auditor D D Desai's Associates after the Himalaya Bridge mishap.
The BMC floated a short-term tender in the interim. The re-audit of the 38 bridges in the A to E wards (Colaba to Byculla) has already been given by the administration to Structwell Designs. Now the proposal of re-audit of 40 bridges in F and G wards (Parel, Lalbaug, Mahalaxmi, Worli, Dadar, Mahim, Wadala) will be tabled in the standing committee meeting on Friday for approval. The cost of a re-audit is Rs. 66 lakhs.
The re-audit will take around three to four months. The re-audit of Easter and Western suburbs have been completed within one and a half month. "The re-audit of suburban bridges has been done by the earlier auditors only. The new auditor has to start work from initial steps and will take more time," said a senior officer from the Bridges Department. He added, "We asked him to first inspect the bridges which were in major repairing category in the earlier report."
Meanwhile, BMC also started the tender process of the dangerous bridges which were demolished or closed due to dilapidated condition. The work will start only after the monsoon.
Bridging the city gap
- The city had 344 bridges and till now one bridge has collapsed while 8 are demolished.
- 14 bridges declared dangerous in audit reports before Himalaya bridge collapse
- 15 bridges found in dilapidated condition in re-audits of Suburban bridges after the Himalaya bridge collapse incidents out of 29 bridges, BMC demolished 8 bridges, closed around 10 bridges
- The re-audit of the remaining 78 bridges in the south Mumbai will start after the approval of the standing committee.
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