VJTI report on Gokhale Bridge-Barfiwala Flyover delayed, BMC tight-lipped

MUMBAI: The BMC on February 26 had announced that a VJTI report, suggesting solutions to the height difference between Gokhale Bridge and Barfiwala Flyover, would be ready in two weeks. However, the Matunga-based institute has yet to submit its report, and the BMC is tight-lipped about the whys and hows.

Gokhale Bridge, a key Andheri east-west connector, was partially opened on February 26. However Barfiwala Flyover, an important connector to Gokhale Bridge from Juhu, was announced as out of bounds due to a height difference of 2.8 metres between the two bridges.

After being roundly criticised on social media, BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, during the inauguration of the partial reopening, had said that VJTI had been appointed as a consultant to provide solutions to join the two bridges and the report would arrive in two weeks. When questioned about this, additional commissioner P Velrasu said the report had yet to come in. “Once we receive the report, the BMC will immediately act upon it,” he said.

Velrasu skirted questions on why the report was not yet in, claiming that there was no delay. However, he did not give any information on when it was expected or why the report had not yet arrived in 14 days as announced by the BMC. Chahal and Vivek Kalyankar, chief engineer (in-charge) of bridges, did not respond to HT’s request for a comment despite reading the messages.

Dhaval Shah, founder of the Lokhandwala-Oshiwara Citizens’ Association, said that Barfiwala Flyover was of paramount importance, as without it, it took a lot of time to access Gokhale Bridge. “Lakhs of residents are waiting eagerly for a quick solution to this issue,” he said. “The BMC should expedite it, as the deadline to submit the report has already lapsed.”

The BMC’s chief engineer for bridges on March 7 wrote a letter to VJTI, asking the institute to expedite its work on finding a way that would solve the problem of the different heights of the two bridges. The letter urged VJTI to provide the “quickest”, “non-breaking” and most “implementable” solution possible in its report, which was to arrive by March 10 or 11.

HT was the first to report on the height difference between the two flyovers owing to the increased height requirement by the railways for Gokhale Bridge and the missing drawings of Barfiwala Flyover, due to which the BMC had to appoint IIT and VJTI as consultants. HT contacted Sachin Kore, Director, VJTI, who did not respond.