The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) are in the midst of completing work on this Veer Savarkar flyover, which has been delayed for long and has been bothering motorists for last three years.
A 45-tonne girder's failure to miss the right spot by a mere 100 millimeter led to disaster on Sunday morning. At around 5.45am this steel girder collapsed taking down a 250 tonne crane along with it at Goregaon. This led to a series of repercussion on Sunday morning as the traffic police had to divert traffic on SV Road going towards Western Express Highway and Link Road.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) are in the midst of completing work on this Veer Savarkar flyover, which has been delayed for long and has been bothering motorists for last three years. On late night of April 14-15, the civic body started work of launching two 45-tonne each steel girders that are 45 meters long right above the junction which meets SV Road, WEH and Link Road called as MTNL junction.
The work was to begin at 12 midnight, however the BMC could begin work only by 2am as there was vehicular traffic due to Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations. The BMC had taken block between 12 midnight to 5am for this work during which period the road traffic was shut. By 5.45am they were about to finish raising of second 45-tonne girder - each one being 45-meters long - after successfully launching the first one.
By doing this, they would have finished work well in time and allow road traffic to resume. However the girder crashed; crane toppled and things went awry. The engineers then used a 400-tonne crane - one at each end - to raise the crashed girder. It took the BMC well over 5 hours to rectify the situation.
The officials at the site stated that such incidents happen at times as they have to follow tight deadlines. During night hours between 12 midnight and 5am on April 15-16, the BMC launched another 90-tonne of girder next to these two girders. They had kept three heavy cranes ready for the same.
"People were inconvenienced for few hours due to this incident but after its completion it will benefit them. We aim to make it ready before monsoon," said S Kori, Chief Engineer (Bridges), BMC.
The BMC officials claim that they eliminated the need for another pillar in the middle of the junction and instead decided to go for this 45-meters long girder. Finally by 12.50pm, road traffic on this closed section resumed. There were traffic on the connecting roads leading to SV Road from WEH and Link Road during this period.
"People were advised to use Sainath subway and Mrinal Tai Gore bridge as the road was closed for vehicular traffic," said Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic).
The traffic cops state that on an average 250-300 vehicles use this junction in 5 minutes.
CIVIC WORK
- On late night of April 14-15, the civic body started work of launching two 45-tonne each steel girders — 45 meters long.
- The work was to begin at 12 midnight, but finally began at 2am
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