While bridges are being shut and demolished by the Central Railway (CR); what catches attraction is that the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) — that had inspected these bridges — is submitting its inspection report in 'parts' for each foot over bridge (FOB), to the CR authorities. According to a reply sought through RTI by activist Anil Galgali, the CR owes around Rs 1.68 crore to IIT, Bombay.
DNA on March 16 had written about the two agencies bickering over financial transactions in the article "Mumbai Bridge Collapse: People lose lives, officials play blame game over funds". "I applied for an RTI on bridges that are being inspected in mid-March. These safety audit reports should be made public as and when it is released so that people also know the condition of the city's bridges," Galgali said.
The RTI reply given by the Central Railway stated that between August 2018 to March 2019, IIT, Bombay had finished safety audits of 191 FOBs and 89 ROBs. "The total safety audit charges for FOBs and ROBs is Rs 3.37 crore of which 50 per cent has been paid in advance," said Galgali, who received this information under his RTI petition.
The CR officials claim that they have been receiving reports of FOBs and ROBs as and when it is compiled and readied by IIT, Bombay. Sources said that even in the last week, the CR received a few reports pertaining to FOBs. "We are taking action as and when we are getting the reports. That is the reason why many of the FOBs are under repair and being shut for public use," said a CR official.
Recently, the CR authorities shut two FOBs at Vidyavihar and GTB Nagar stations. In the coming days, they will be demolishing 7 FOBs that are over 50-year-old. In total, there are 191 FOBs on the Mumbai suburban network; of these, 99 are between CSMT-Kalyan, 12 on Kalyan Kasara route, 16 on Kalyan-Karjat route, four on Diva-Vasai stretch, seven on Diva-Panvel, two on Panvel-Karjat route and eight on Panvel-Roha route. Repairs are already underway on many of them and the deadline to get these bridges ready for public use is May 30.