Rusty FOB was repaired just once in three decades
Richa Pinto | TNN | Mar 16, 2019, 07:08 IST
In almost three decades since it was built, the CSTDN Road foot over-bridge underwent major repairs just once, in 2013. MUMBAI: In almost three decades since it was built, the CSTDN Road foot over-bridge (FOB) underwent major repairs just once, in 2013. Perhaps fatally, the process made the rusty structure heavier as its floor was paved with heavy granite slabs. Three years later, at the height of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the BMC refurbished the bridge. Essentially, it put a fresh coat of paint, but, crucially, didn’t conduct a structural examination.
For now, RPS Infrastructure, the firm that carried out repairs to the bridge in 2013, faces blacklisting for shoddy workmanship, and the BMC’s supervising engineer suspension. Civic sources said RPS is the same firm against which the BMC registered an FIR in June 2016 over the multi-crore road scam.
The 2013 repairs involved the use of 1.43 ton of structural steel, and included painting, “polymer-modified motor” and hand railing works. BMC’s bridges department provided these details, contained in a biannual contract for 2012-14, to the team inquiring into Thursday’s crash. “If such major repairs (2013) were carried out, it is surprising to note how engineers then failed to identify issues that could lead to the bridge’s collapse,” reads the report of the preliminary inquiry into the tragedy.
In 2016, the FOB got a facelift after CST, a Unesco World Heritage Site, was selected as one of India’s 10 iconic places under the Swachh Bharat Mission. After the work was finished, experts did question its “heritage” merit.
An independent structural engineer, Chetan Raikar, who was called on Friday to determine if the bridge’s frame should be dismantled, said, “It was a steel bridge, but its flooring was concrete. We found high corrosion levels and recommended dismantling.”
Strangely, the two reports of the bridge’s audit were contradictory. While the detailed report stated that there were cracks on the railings, parapets and stairs, and that steel from the floorboard slabs were exposed, the final report concluded that the bridge was in a good condition and only minor repairs were required. This is the reason, said a civic official, that no tenders were floated for repairing the bridge. But the opposition questions this version. “The structural audit report, for all its faults, wasn’t interpreted in the right manner,” said Rais Shaikh, the Samajwadi Party leader in the BMC.
For now, RPS Infrastructure, the firm that carried out repairs to the bridge in 2013, faces blacklisting for shoddy workmanship, and the BMC’s supervising engineer suspension. Civic sources said RPS is the same firm against which the BMC registered an FIR in June 2016 over the multi-crore road scam.
The 2013 repairs involved the use of 1.43 ton of structural steel, and included painting, “polymer-modified motor” and hand railing works. BMC’s bridges department provided these details, contained in a biannual contract for 2012-14, to the team inquiring into Thursday’s crash. “If such major repairs (2013) were carried out, it is surprising to note how engineers then failed to identify issues that could lead to the bridge’s collapse,” reads the report of the preliminary inquiry into the tragedy.
In 2016, the FOB got a facelift after CST, a Unesco World Heritage Site, was selected as one of India’s 10 iconic places under the Swachh Bharat Mission. After the work was finished, experts did question its “heritage” merit.
An independent structural engineer, Chetan Raikar, who was called on Friday to determine if the bridge’s frame should be dismantled, said, “It was a steel bridge, but its flooring was concrete. We found high corrosion levels and recommended dismantling.”
Strangely, the two reports of the bridge’s audit were contradictory. While the detailed report stated that there were cracks on the railings, parapets and stairs, and that steel from the floorboard slabs were exposed, the final report concluded that the bridge was in a good condition and only minor repairs were required. This is the reason, said a civic official, that no tenders were floated for repairing the bridge. But the opposition questions this version. “The structural audit report, for all its faults, wasn’t interpreted in the right manner,” said Rais Shaikh, the Samajwadi Party leader in the BMC.
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