25 February,2023 07:55 AM IST | Mumbai | Prajakta Kasale
Thousands of passengers are forced to walk on uneven surfaces with many hurdles, including the base of pillars of the earlier skywalk, at Bandra East. File pic/Satej Shinde
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has assured that the construction of Gokhale Bridge at Andheri will be completed in six months, but it has still not begun construction of the Bandra Skywalk even after four years. The work has been delayed for various reasons and people are forced to walk on the uneven footpath.
The skywalk was declared dilapidated just after the collapse of Himalaya bridge at CSMT in March 2019. Since then the BMC has come up with various plans to get it up again but has failed to do so.
The skywalk, with one arm going to Kalanagar and another going to Bandra Court via Anant Kanekar Marg (station road), was built in 2008 by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The BMC decided to rebuild one arm of 385 m over Anant Kanekar Marg, from the station to the Bandra court, at the cost of Rs 19 crore and issued a work order in February 2022. Including monsoon, construction work was to be completed within 18 months from February last year. But now after awarding a contract for the reconstruction of one arm, the work hasn't started yet. mid-day had reported on the skywalk even in January 2023.
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Without the skywalk, thousands of passengers are forced to walk on uneven surfaces with many hurdles including the base of pillars of the earlier skywalk.
Anil Trimbakkar, former Bandra corporator said that passengers coming from MHADA, BKC have to walk the entire stretch at the station without a proper footpath. "Why did it take so many years to just start the work?" he asked.
The Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute on January 20, 2020, submitted a structural audit report, stating the bridge needed major repair works. The civic administration, however, decided to rebuild part of the skywalk as repairing would cost around Rs 7 crore and wouldn't increase the skywalk's life significantly. Rebuilding one route would give it a life of at least 40 years. The BMC had issued a work order to rebuild only one route, because reconstructing the entire skywalk would cost more than Rs 50 crore.
