Signage, RPF men to prevent stampede at Lower Parel ROB
No clarity over who will rebuild the bridge
MUMBAI: Even after an hour of discussion on Wednesday, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Western Railway (WR) could not come to an agreement over who would reconstruct the Delisle Bridge, also known as the Lower Parel rail overbridge (ROB).
While the BMC insisted that WR should construct the ROB portion over its tracks, WR has not agreed and said the final decision would be taken by superiors at their headquarters.
WR has introduced signages, ropes and directions at the entrance of the Lower Parel station.
Extra Railway Protection Force (RPF), Government Railway Police (GRP) and home guards have been deployed outside the station to assist passengers.
“The pedestrian end [of the bridge] is not safe, we will be carrying out an inspection on Thursday to see if the pedestrian end on the approach road of the ROB can be started,” said a WR official.
“The approach road to the ROB will be constructed by BMC and the portion above the tracks will be constructed by Western Railway,” said Ajoy Mehta, BMC chief.
Meanwhile, WR has taken several steps for crowd management at Lower Parel railway station which witnessed a near stampede-like situation on Tuesday.
“We tried to explain to the civic officials that the entire piling portions and foundation is on their land and they should undertake the construction of the bridge. However, they insisted that the ROB portion above the bridge should be constructed by us. The final decision will be taken by the headquarters after we get it in writing from them,” said a senior WR official.
The BMC has also asked that a second structural audit of the Delisle Bridge should be carried by WR by checking if any vehicle can be allowed on the bridge. However, WR is sceptical of the second audit.
“Auditing the bridge again makes no sense as the decision to shut the bridge was undertaken only after an audit by engineers from BMC, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the railways. If there is a difference of opinion in the second audit, then a third audit will have to be done,” said the WR official.