Six deaths...

A show cause notice has been issued against structural auditor Professor DD Desai Associated Engineering Consultants and Analysts Private Limited and the contractor who repaired the bridge in 2013.

Mehta has also ordered that all 296 FOBS and road over bridges (ROBS) be re-audited.

The civic bridges department will be revamped to create a new bridge inspection authority that will be headed by a chief bridges inspector, to monitor the status of bridges in the city. The authority will define and set the frequency of bridge inspection, enumerate the inspections, define the template and format in which reports will be submitted, define responsibilities of various bridge maintenance engineers and recommend remedial measures in case a bridge is in dangerous condition.

The BMC also made public the audit report submitted to the civic body on August 13, 2018, in which structural auditor Professor DD Desai Associated Engineering Consultants and Analysts Private Limited had declared the bridge to be in good condition and in need of only minor repairs. The firm audited 39 bridges in the South zone, which will now be re-audited by a different structural audit company. No mention was made of what specific repairs were needed. In the primary report released on Friday, the BMC said, “Despite spending public money on the audit, the true condition of the bridge could not be found out leading to the tragedy. The tragedy could have been avoided if the audit would have been carried out diligently.”

After a series of meetings with the bridge and vigilance departments on Friday, Mehta decided to take action against Professor DD Desai Associated Engineering Consultants and Analysts Private Limited. A first information report (FIR) will be registered against the structural audit firm, which will be removed from the BMC’S panel of auditors. The process to blacklist the firm was also started by issuing it a show cause notice.

RPS Infraprojects Private Limited, which carried out repair works on the bridge between 2012-2014, will also be issued a show cause notice for sub-standard repair work. The firm carried out major repairs in which nearly 1.43 tons of structural steel were used. “Since the bridge collapsed within six years of the repairs being carried out, it seems that the supervision work and workmanship of the contractors was not up to the mark,” said the BMC in its report.

A total of 296 bridges were audited by different firms between 2016 and 2018. In light of Thursday’s incident, all the auditing firms have been asked to re-examine their audit reports and submit reports either confirming their previous findings or suggesting remedial measures. The firms will not be paid for the same. No comment was available from Professor DD Desai Associated Engineering Consultants and Analysts Private Limited despite repeated phone calls and email.