The civic body’s efforts to construct bridges over Mithi River after its widening, has been on the slow track, according to an RTI activist. The BMC has built only one bridge in the past six years, while three bridges are still under construction.
After much criticism and delay, the BMC revised the deadlines. Interestingly, the civic body hasn’t increased the charges. After widening the river, the old bridges were demolished and the BMC decided to construct bridges from CST (Kurla) to Powai in 2007.
An RTI query filed by Anil Galgali found that only one bridge with a budget of `5.72 crore at Kranti Nagar has been completed so far. The bridge, however, was delayed by almost three years. The bridge was important for Mithi River as it is close to the airport drain and is convenient to commuters.
The BMC executive engineer from the concerned department (eastern suburb) said that work on the Kurla-Kalina bridge with a budget of `24.90 crore was underway and the deadline for its completion has been fixed for April 12.
The Ashok Nagar bridge is supposed to be constructed by November 16, 2014. The Bamandaya Pada bridge has not been completed and its new deadline has been set for January 16, 2014. The cost of both Ashok Nagar and Bamandaya bridges put together is `20.44 crore. However, work on the CST Bridge at Kurla is yet to take off.
Mr Galgali has slammed the BMC officials for delaying the work and demanded that the bridges be completed within the new deadlines. “It’s just another example of shoddy work of the BMC officials, who hardly care to fulfil their duties,” he said.
“Now, we are in last stage of completing the bridges. Initially, we faced many hurdles, especially due to illegal structures. We also had to ensure the smooth flow of traffic,” said a civic
official from the department.