Mumbai: Six years on, collapsed Dharavi stretch is still a nightmare

The barricaded stretch in Dharavi that collapsed in 2011. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

The year 2011 to now has seen three municipal commissioners, with the third, Ajoy Mehta, set to leave the post soon, and none of them has managed to take care of a measly 100-metre patch in Dharavi, which collapsed in 2011.

It's six years later, and barricades have been placed around it, work is on. But the stretch as well as the road is not just utterly useless, but also a frustrating bottleneck, as the barricades eat up two lanes.

"We have started work for this bridge," said a BMC official said. The bridge department, which is looking after the repairs, has awarded a contract of R11.92 crore. The work will be done in four phases and completed only by November 2018.

Bane for rail too
The bridge, which falls between Mahim and Bandra stations, with Mithi river flowing parallel to it, is also delaying the trials of the AC local planned by the Western Railway authorities.

WR officials had said that work on it would be carried out soon, so that it would enable the AC local trials to start. In the bridge's reconstruction, its height is set to be increased to accommodate the AC train.

Metro to blame?
An official from the bridge department said, "We have started the foundation work. We'd started it in 2013 itself, but due to the proposed Metro III (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz), we were forced to remove the pile foundation. This was the process that took a lot of time."

"In 2014, the civic body had constructed 22 piers for the bridge, but then, we got a letter from the MMRDA regarding the Metro below the bridge. Because we did not have technology to remove the piers, we had to do it manually," he added.

"If not for the Metro, we would have completed it last year itself."