Residents claim MSRDC delaying installation of suicide barriers on Vashi Bridge

Local residents and activists from Vashi have claimed that the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is delaying the installation of suicide barriers on the two bridges on Vashi Creek Bridge.

A large number of people either die by suicide or attempt to do that by jumping off the bridges every year.

Vashi police said that nearly 30 suicide attempts were averted on the bridges in 2021 alone. The number of people who actually died by suicide is not clear as many of them take place when no one is around.

In the latest incident, a 16-year-old girl from Chembur jumped off the old bridge on Tuesday afternoon. A local fisherman rescued her and rushed her to the NMMC Hospital in Vashi. She was later handed over to her family members after a counselling session at the police station. This is the first case of an attempt to suicide so far this year.

Ramesh Chavan, senior inspector of Vashi police station, said, “People come from different places of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai to commit suicide by jumping off these bridges. The local fishermen and the officials from the traffic department saved nearly 30 people last year. During counselling, they talked about different issues such as depression, failed relationships, domestic violence among others that instigated to take such steps. So this has become a very serious issue in Vashi. We have been writing to the MSRDC for the past several years, requesting them to take the requisite measures. But nothing has been done until now.”

Madhukar Patil, a 47-year-old activist from Vashi, said, “The length of each of these bridges is around 1.8 km. So, the installation of the suicide barriers cannot be a huge project for the MSRDC. Taking the alarming number of people jumping off the bridges into consideration, they should install the barriers as early as possible.”

An MSRDC official said, “The tendering process for installing the suicide barriers is on and the work at the site will be started just after completion of that process. Once started, it will take us only 45 days to finish it. We have allocated a budget of ₹3.50Cr for the task.”

MSRDC is developing two new bridges (three lanes each) on the Vashi creek bridge to decongest the Sion-Panvel Highway in that area. On the upcoming bridges, they have decided to develop 1.5m tall concrete walls on the sides, and hence there will be no need for suicide barriers.