Maha CM orders immediate probe
OVERBRIDGE COLLAPSE Says incident raises questions on audits conducted on city bridges, seeks revisit of past safety inspections
MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday asked for an immediate probe to “fix primary responsibility by the evening” on those responsible for the foot-overbridge ( FOB) coll apse t hat claimed six lives on Thursday.
He also sought a “revisit of the safety audits”, which had declared the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) bridge “safe”. The bridge collapsed here on Thursday at 7.40 pm injuring 31, some critically.
After visiting the injured at various hospitals i n s outh Mumbai, Fadnavis said “it was an extremely serious matter” t hat t he bri dge which had already undergone a structural audit had crashed suddenly.
“This also raises questions on the audits conducted on the city bridges...the structural and safety audits carried out on all the bridges need to be revisited.
“I have al s o ordered t he municipal commissioner to affix the primary responsibility on the officials and police will lodge separate first information reports against them,” Fadnavis said.
The Mumbai Police have registered cases against BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Indian Railway officials charging them with negligence and culpable homicide in the bridge which crashed barely six months after the structural audit cleared it after suggesting minor repairs.
Following the collapse, Fadnavis late on Thursday announced ~5 lakh ex gratia each to the kin of deceased and ~50,000 to the injured, besides a high-level probe into the incident.
The bridge was used by thousands of daily suburban commuters. While the debris below the bridge has been cleared, traffic restrictions continued, a traffic official said. MUMBAI: A day after a foot overbridge connected to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) railway station collapsed, killing six persons and injuring 31, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to dismantle the structure.
In a meeting chaired by BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta Friday, it was decided that the civic body’s chief engineer (vigilance) would conduct an inquiry into the causes of the deck of the FOB collapsing on Thursday evening.
Ward officer Kiran Dighawkar said work on dismantling the FOB had begun.
“We aim to open DN Road for vehicular traffic by 7 pm Friday,” he said.
Another official said the chief engineer (vigilance) has been asked to submit his preliminary report identifying staff responsible and the role of those who carried out its structural audit within 24 hours .
The probe will include history of the bridge, the time when the audit was carried out and whether appropriate methodology was used and staff had adequate expertise, he said.
A BMC official had said the FOB was found to be structurally safe when it was audited in August 2016, after a British-era bridge over Savitri River was washed away during monsoon in Raigad district.