The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will not be able to start work on the single lane of Gokhale bridge that was planned in order to facilitate vehicular movement between Andheri east and west before the monsoon. The bridge itself is likely to be completed by Diwali.

Andheri West MLA Ameet Satam visited the bridge site on Wednesday with Additional Municipal Commissioner P Velrasu. During the visit, a BMC official said, “By June, all the bridge work other than that which is related to the railway will be completed. From July 15, three months will be needed to complete the railway portion and then assemble the structure.”

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Satam said, “At this point in time, the BMC expects the bridge to be open by Diwali ie mid-November. While we understand that this will be a five-month delay from the earlier committed date of May-end,  we need to understand that this is a highly specialised job.”

Satam stated, “The design of the railway portion of the bridge was approved by Railways on February 2 and the steel girders on the railway portion were placed on February 8 by the contractor. There are only two manufacturers of this specialised steel equipment: Jindal, which has one plant, and the Steel Authority of India (SAIL), which has seven plants. However, unfortunately due to the strike at the Roorkee plant of SAIL, there was an indefinite delay and SAIL has not been able to commit to a date for delivery. Hence the contractor placed an order with Jindal and the delivery work will start at the end of April and will be completed by July 15.

The BMC closed Gokhale bridge to traffic in November 2022. At the time, the civic body claimed that a single lane on both sides would be completed before the monsoon. Deputy Municipal Commissioner Ulhas Mahale did not respond to mid-day’s messages.

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