Mumbai: A day after an over-the-tracks
bridge fell on a suburban train in Thane killing two people,
the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday said it had
started inspection and repair works of nearly 58 dilapidated
bridges in the metropolis prior to the mishap.
"The repair work on old bridges in the city had already
started before yesterday's incident. We had begun assessment
of work on old bridges as per the Standing Technical Advisory
Committee (STAC) findings," additional municipal commissioner
R A Rajeev told a news agency.
The STAC headed by N V Merani had in 2007 brought to the
notice of BMC, 58 bridges in the city that were "dangerous"
and in "unsafe" condition.
"We have visited most of those unsafe bridges. We have
already begun repair works on few bridges like Kennedy Bridge
in South Mumbai, King Circle bridge and few others," chief
engineer (Roads and Engineering) Shirdhar Joshi said.
Also, we are in the process of appointing consultants so
that they can carry out more detailed investigation and fix
the repair works on priority basis, he said.
According to a STAC report, of the 58 bridges that are in
bad shape, 22 are in the island city, 30 in eastern suburbs
and six in western suburbs.
"We have also created a different section for carrying
out repair works of old bridges in the city in the road
department. They carry out detailed investigation and assess
the old bridges and do the repairs as required," Rajeev said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, October 24, 2009, 17:04