Mumbai: Long process to woo shopkeepers along Malad bridge commences

Vehicles on the old bridge on SV Road near Malad station. The new access roads are useless because of the shops. File pic

There will be no respite anytime soon for commuters plying on a bridge on SV Road in Malad that was declared dilapidated in 2019. Though two lanes, which officials refer to as access roads, were built on either side of the structure, they cannot be opened as several shops sit on their alignment. After mid-day highlighted the situation, on November 9, the ward office started the process of compensation to the shopkeepers, the procedure will take time as the file needs to be cleared at various levels in the BMC.

Swami Vivekananda Road or SV Road is a key road in the western suburbs. A 10-metre-wide nullah runs close to the Malad subway and then under the S V Road right in front of the Bata showroom near Sainath Road. While the width of SV Road is about 90 feet, it is reduced to 45 feet on the bridge above the nullah. The bridge was declared dilapidated in an audit which took place in 2019 right after the collapse of Himalaya foot overbridge at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. The BMC invited tenders and started reconstruction in December of that year but the bridge cannot be demolished and heavy vehicles are still plying on it.

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Though the BMC constructed two lanes on either side of the bridge and the new structures were to be opened for traffic before demolishing the old structure, as the whole road cannot be shut to traffic, 16 shops on the right side of the road [towards Dahisar] need to be demolished. The store on the opposite sides will be cut by around six to seven feet. After the Gokhale bridge chaos, the ward offices sent notices to the shops and asked them to choose one option in three days: move to alternative locations or accept compensation at 75% compensation of the ready reckoner rate. Though the shopkeepers are open to monetary compensation, the process may take time.

"We have started the compensation process as per the BMC's policy as the shopkeepers were reluctant to move to alternative locations. The file needs to be cleared by the accounts department before sanctioning funds from the building proposal department. We will try to do it as soon as possible," said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of P North ward. The file was with the deputy municipal commissioner's office and is now with the accounts and building proposal departments as they have to release the amount. It will be sent to a higher authority and then it will make its way back to the ward office.

"I cleared the file, which is now with the accounts department. Once it gets cleared, it will come to me and then we will submit it to the administrator for approval. It will take a week. We will try to vacate the shops even before that with mutual understanding," said Vishwas Shankarwar, deputy municipal commissioner of the zone. "The access roads will solve the bottleneck issue. But there are structures that need to be cleared before opening it. The ward office has to clear it," a civic engineer said.