Mumbai: FOB at Marine Lines splits wide open again

The tiles have popped out on the FOB at Marines Lines. Pic/Satej Shinde

Barely a year after mid-day highlighted BMC's shoddy construction of a new foot overbridge outside Marine Lines station, this monsoon season has once again revealed the shabby repair work undertaken by the municipal body.

In August last year, this newspaper had reported how tiles on a newly-constructed bridge were coming undone, with the broken pieces posing a risk to commuters. Soon after, the bridges department had initiated repair work. However, on Saturday, broken and cracked tiles resurfaced on the same spot of the bridge. Walking through this stretch in the night can be dangerous - commuters are at risk of tripping and falling, as there are no lights on the bridge.

This particular FOB, situated at the north end, and another connecting Chandanwadi crematorium, were among eight bridges that were declared dangerous after the Himalaya bridge near CSMT collapsed in 2019. In June 2019, the BMC awarded the contract to reconstruct the two FOBs to M/s SVJ Inovabuild Pvt Ltd at Rs 4.35 crore; this was already 33 per cent more than the estimated cost of Rs 3.27 crore. While the structures were to be ready in 18 months, excluding monsoon, the contractor only completed the work on May 31, 2022. After the reopening of the bridges, tiles started cracking and popping out. Even tiles on its staircases were found to be broken.

Thousands of passengers use the two FOBs to cross the busy road outside Marine Lines. The crematorium lane connects with commercial areas like Chira Bazar, Bhuleshwar, Kalbadevi and Dawa Bazar. "We don't have any hopes from the BMC," said Trupti Patil, a resident of Girgaum. "The civic officers are so careless about basic infrastructure work. Even the work of the Kelewadi bridge [in Girgaum] has been stalled despite repeated requests and follow-ups."

Speaking to mid-day, Mushtaq Ansari, an activist said, "It seems the contractor used only sand and no cement. The BMC officers never supervise any work." Last year, after the mid-day report, the Vigilance Department of the BMC had started an inquiry, but did not reveal the outcome.

When contacted, Ulhas Mahale, BMC, infrastructure, told mid-day that "the tiles were deliberately broken by antisocial elements last time round". An engineer from the bridges department said, "The bridge is under a defect liability period and we will ask the contractor to repair it [at the earliest]. We will also observe the repair work undertaken by them to ensure that the issue doesn't persist."