BMC floats 84-cr tender to build bridge on railway portion of Gokhale Bridge

Mumbai: After much delay in getting approval from IIT-Bombay on the drawings submitted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to Western Railway (WR), the civic body on Saturday floated a tender for ₹84.72 crore to build a bridge on the railway portion of Gokhale Bridge at Andheri.

The tender, which was uploaded by the civic body’s bridges department on its portal, mentioned a time period of eight months, including the monsoon months, to complete the work. Deputy chief minister has already spoken with railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav, requesting that the Gokhale Bridge work be expedited.

On November 11, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, guardian minister of the western suburbs, conducted a high-level meeting with officials from WR, the BMC and the Mumbai traffic police along with Andheri West MLA Ameet Satam. It was decided here that the demolition of the bridge would be done by WR and construction of the new bridge would be simultaneously done by the BMC.

A rough evaluation was also done of whether one lane could be used by pedestrians, autorickshaws and two-wheelers by giving external support to the bridge, subject to a structural audit clearance. A decision on this is expected in a week.

The tender and drawing floated by the BMC mentions a cost of ₹84,72,78,556 for building the railway portion of the Gokhale Bridge. It also mentions that pedestrian movement in the area should not be affected during the entire construction period. The drawings uploaded by the BMC show two proposed elevators along with the staircase on the eastern side and two staircases on the western side of the bridge.

On Saturday evening, a meeting was organised by the residents of Bharucha Baug Parsi colony on the Gokhale Bridge traffic issue. BMC and traffic officials and many residents of Andheri attended along with Satam. “Demolition of the bridge is an extremely technical task,” the MLA told his constituents. “Trains cannot be stopped from running, and there are high-tension wires below the bridge. The government is trying to get the best people for the job. The tender has been floated today and I will follow up continuously on this.”

During the meet, local residents made various suggestions to ease the traffic situation. Bhavesh Gandhi requested traffic officials to make the road from Chakala to Andheri Station two-way to make things easier for commuters using the Andheri subway. The road is currently open only for east-bound traffic from Andheri Station towards Chakala while the west-bound vehicles have to go all the way via Bisleri Junction to get to the subway. Some residents also submitted a printed chart of their recommendations of one-way traffic movement in certain areas of Vile Parle and Andheri during peak hours.

Satam declared that he had got both traffic and BMC officials before his constituents, and they were noting their suggestions and would see what best could be done about traffic jams. “We are also evaluating an option to see if DFCCIL, a railways PSU, can build the bridge,” he said. “As of now, we have decided that the BMC will build it, but we are keeping both options open. Whoever can build it faster will be given the job.”

Residents also requested BMC officials to make the drive against hawkers a continuously ongoing process and also fill all potholes in the area. Some residents also complained to the traffic officials that the wardens provided by BMC to the traffic department were not managing traffic, and were seen using mobile phones and gossiping while on duty.