BMC to inspect Mumbai bridges older than 30 years every 3 months

In the aftermath of the Himalaya foot overbridge (FoB) collapse at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in March, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided that bridges more than 30 years old will be inspected at least once every three months.

The committee working on creating the bridge inspection authority, has directed the bridges department to categorise bridges as per their age, structural stability, length and traffic flow. Based on this, the authority will chalk out a time table for inspection and audit of bridges.

Vinod Chithore, director (engineering services and projects), in-charge of forming the bridge inspection authority, said, “We have decided a minimum of three months as the interval for inspecting old bridges. The new or recently repaired ones can be inspected between longer intervals.”

“Since a structural audit of the city’s bridges was just concluded, we do not need to schedule one right away. So we are using this time to decide the details,” said Chithore.

After the Himalaya FOB collapse, the then municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta had announced that a bridge inspection authority would be created to monitor inspections of BMCowned bridges. The committee working on forming the body was charged with defining the frequency of bridge inspections and listing out responsibilities of various engineers in the bridges department.

However, some of the work assigned to the bridge inspection authority is being carried out by a state-level cross-organisational fact-finding committee that was set up by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis under leadership of Manoj Saunik, principal secretary of public works department, with representatives from MMRDA, and BMC. The committee is drafting standard operating procedures for bridge inspections and restrengthening. “To avoid overlap of work, the bridge inspection authority will adopt guidelines set by this committee,” Chithore said.