CSMT FOB collapse: Probe crawls, directives remain on paper

Vigilance department, which was to submit detailed probe report on April 20, is still waiting for Central Railways' response

Five weeks after the CSMT foot overbridge collapsed, the civic body's inquiry has barely made any progress. Recommendations made in the preliminary report published on March 15 have not been implemented yet. While a full-fledged inquiry is yet to begin, the civic chief's directive of setting up a bridge inspection authority is still on paper, with the elections being blamed for the delay.

After a preliminary report on the CSMT bridge collapse was prepared, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) Vigilance Department was expected to submit a detailed version of it on April 20 but failed to do so since they are still awaiting a response from the Central Railways. "The BMC had written to the Railways to explain the amount of load they considered when they connected all the platforms to the CSMT FOB. Without their response, the report would be incomplete. Their response is expected this week after which we will submit the report," said a senior civic official.

A departmental inquiry will assess the lapses recorded in the detailed preliminary report. During the inquiry, show-cause notices will be sent to all civic officials concerned with the FOB and the process is expected to take at least two months.

Also Read: Mumbai: Shop under CSMT's footover bridge staircase is illegal

Railways to cooperate

Central Railways' chief public relations officer Sunil Udasi said, "Footfalls have drastically reduced at CSMT in the last 10 years. We have always cooperated with the civic body on various issues and we will also be providing them shortly the information they require."

Apart from fixing responsibility of civic officials from the Bridges Department, the detailed preliminary report is looking into the role of Veetrag Enterprises, the contractor who had carried out refurbishment work weeks before the work order was issued to him. "A statement has been taken from the officers of A ward and it has been observed that the work was done without getting the Bridges department's remarks," said another senior civic official.

A letter was sent by Kiran Dighavkar, the assistant municipal commissioner of A ward, to the Bridges Department asking them to look into necessary structural repairs. Five days later, however, Veetrag Enterprises started work and the project was completed between November 9, 2016 and March 31, 2017.

Also Read: BMC to re-audit 38 bridges in Mumbai

'Not enough manpower'

The preliminary report was published less than 24 hours after the CSMT foot overbridge collapsed claiming seven lives. It had stated that a bridge inspection authority would be set up within a month to inspect and monitor the 374 bridges maintained by the BMC. Civic chief Ajoy Mehta had assigned the task to Vinod Chitore, director (ES and P) to set up the team of officials who would be headed by a Chief Bridge Inspector. More than a month later, however, civic officials are unaware of how many officials would be needed for the job.

A senior civic official said that they are in the process of collecting data pertaining to the bridges after which they will draft the protocol and responsibilities of the team. "Around 80 per cent of the staff are away on election duty and we don't have enough manpower. We are collating data and will then be able to ascertain the number of officials that we will need to hire," said the official. The official estimated that it will take another two months to set up the body.

The plan is to upload details about the bridges along with their GPS data on the map, he said, so that officials can search for all information on the map. "Once this is done, officials will be able to click on a particular bridge on the map and access information based on their designation. The plan is in its initial stages and we're working the details out," he said. Dimensions and last repair details will be included here.

March 14, 2019
Day the CSMT bridge collapsed

March 2017
Structural repairs on the bridge completed

Also Read: These railway bridges in Mumbai are declared dangerous, but still standing

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