Lower Parel bridge opened for pedestrians from Friday night
MUMBAI:AFTER a delay of almost 24 hours, authorities opened parts of the Delisle Bridge, known as Lower Parel Bridge, for pedestrian movement on Friday evening, but Western Railway (WR) has expressed concern about overcrowding on north end foot overbridge-(fob) cum-deck of Lower Parel station.
Around 9.30pm, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) opened the pedestrian ramp created on the bridge for public movement. In order to restrict entry of vehicles on the bridge from all the three sides, BMC has set up bollards and for pedestrian movement, created a ramp by laying tin sheets.
“We have allowed the pedestrian movement on the bridge up till the north side FOB,” said SO Kori, chief engineer of BMC, adding that the bridge portion over railway lines will remain shut for pedestrian movement.
After the closure of the bridge, pedestrians were left with the option of only two FOBS at Lower Parel station for east-west movement.
The bridge was declared unsafe after a joint safety audit that was conducted following the Andheri bridge collapse incident.
Earlier, the pedestrian ramp was supposed to be opened on Thursday evening, but authorities failed to open it even by Friday evening. According to BMC officers, the delay was due to the time taken for drying of the cement.
WR expressed concerns about the distribution of crowd on two FOBS at Lower Parel station. “WR re-emphasised that halfutilisation of south FOB might result in a heavy rush situation on North FOB as observed on the first day of closure,” stated WR.