BMC approaches VJTI experts to fix Gokhale bridge-flyover alignment fiasco

Mumbai, Mar 9 (PTI) The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has asked city-based Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) to set up an expert committee to suggest a solution to the alignment problem involving the Gokhale bridge and a flyover in Andheri.

    Politicians and citizens have heavily criticised the BMC after it emerged that the reconstructed Gokhale bridge over railway tracks at Andheri station did not align with the connecting Barfiwala flyover built just over a decade ago.
    In a letter to the state-run VJTI, the BMC has sought from its experts a proven time-saving construction technology to expedite the merger of the two overpasses without breaking the existing Barfiwala structure.
    BMC has told VJTI that it proposes to connect the northbound arm of the Barfiwala flyover to the first phase of the Gokhale bridge to facilitate direct access from Barfiwala Road to the Western Express Highway avoiding the SV Road Junction.
    “BMC has asked VJTI for the quickest and non-breaking, implementable solution possible. A report is expected in three to four days,” a BMC spokesperson said.
    Earlier, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said Mumbai civic commissioner (administrator) IS Chahal should be placed under suspension for the Gokhale bridge reconstruction fiasco.
    "The Gokhale bridge reconstruction by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and Railways is a national shame. It is an example of politician-official nexus. The news has reached all over the globe but the two agencies continue to play a blame game," Thackeray had said earlier.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)