Through the day, despite the rains, the workers were seen ripping these cables and wires belonging to different service providers — namely telephone, electricity, optical fibres and other installations.
The work on Delisle bridge has finally begun. On August 21, the authorities scrapped the asphalt from the main portion of this Lower Parel road-over-bridge (ROB). Civic bodies simultaneously began removing cables, wires and ducts.
Through the day, despite the rains, the workers were seen ripping these cables and wires belonging to different service providers — namely telephone, electricity, optical fibres and other installations. The railway officials said that it will be a tedious task as these cables weigh over 100 tonnes and have been buried below paver blocks of the footpath.
"We have started removing the electric cables after providing sufficient backup, so that it does not affect the consumers," said H Gophane, spokesperson, BEST Undertaking. There were a couple of JCB machines to scrape the asphalt and paver blocks on the road and footpath. This work was mainly on the center portion of the bridge, right above the rail tracks, which has been declared unsafe.
Western Railway officials said that a contractor has been appointed to demolish and dismantle the bridge at Rs 7.22 crore. This bridge was built in 1921. Even now, there is a dispute over who will reconstruct this ROB — the Western Railway or the BMC. It will take three months to dismantle the bridge, and during this period, the agency responsible for reconstruction, will be ascertained.
"The designs are more likely to have this 64 degree curve. But its landing will not be on our land. So, there is no question of us rebuilding it," said a WR official. Earlier last month, there was a meeting where probable ideas for rebuilding the bridge, with a new design, was discussed.
The preparatory work like removal of fencing, tiles and kerb stones using gas cutters and small JCBs had begun on Sunday. After the asphalt on the bridge is removed, 60-cms thick concrete will be taken off. There are no metal sheets or rods in between, hence it will be very difficult to penetrate even with JCB machines.
It will be difficult to cut the cement concrete into slabs. A mesh fence will be spread under the portion, which is undergoing demolition and dismantling. Once this is complete, girders will be cut into 54 parts and then taken off, using gas cutters.
Devendra Kumar Jain, assistant commissioner of G South ward of BMC, said that the civic body coordinated with all utility agencies in shifting the cables and pipelines. "Since the bridge was declared dangerous, and it was decided to pull it down, we did correspondences with telephone operators, BEST, gas pipeline and other utility agencies in providing an alternate place," said Jain. He added that all the utility agencies have already started shifting their infrastructure to places earmarked by the BMC.
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 "Delisle Bridge")
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