BMC admits it misread CSMT FOB audit report

A BMC official has confessed that the civic body's engineers misinterpreted the audit report in 2016 for the Himalaya Foot Overbridge (FOB), and failed to inspect and repair it in time. So far, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had pinned the blame for the March 14 collapse on the auditors — M/s Prof. D D Desai's Associated Engineering Consultants and Analysts Pvt. Ltd — who gave the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) FOB a clean bill of structural health.

On Thursday, BMC's Chief Engineer of Bridges, Sanjay Darade, told the Standing Committee that the DD Desai report said concrete slabs showed signs of corrosion and cracks were observed on the reinforced concrete railing.

"It is the concerned engineer's job to interpret the report carefully and act accordingly," said Darade. The concerned engineers, in this case, are Executive Engineer AR Patil and Assistant engineer S F Kakulte, both of whom have been arrested by the police.

The tragedy resulted in six deaths and left 35 people injured.

Soon after the FOB collapse, auditing firm DD Desai was blacklisted and its director, Niraj Kumar Desai, was arrested on March 18. He is currently in judicial custody.

Darade U-turn before the Standing Committee came in response to Opposition leader Ravi Raja question while the repair of bridges was being discussed. "DD Desai's report mentioned that concrete slabs were corroded and there were cracks in the RC railing. Then why didn't the administration act on it?"

"Many of the bridges need minor repairs," quipped BJP corporator Abhijeet Samant, "But the Bridges department is in need of major repairs."

"After denying it initially, now the administration admits its mistake," said Rais Shaikh, group leader of Samajwadi Party. "The minutes of the standing committee meeting should be submitted to the police commissioner and an inquiry should be initiated from a new perspective."

"The Himalaya Bridge was constructed in 1983-1984 and repaired in 1992-93 by Sandip Construction, in 2013-14 by RP Infra and in 2016-17 by A ward," added Darade. "The audit has carried out in 2016 and floor of the bridge was repaired in the same year. This should also be examined carefully."

Meanwhile, acting on Bombay High Court's suggestion for periodical structural audits of the bridges with high footfall, BMC will approach IIT-B (Indian Institute of Technology Bombay) and VJTI (Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute) to undertake the task. The standing committee also cleared the proposal to repair 16 bridges in south Mumbai, which has earlier been audited by the blacklisted firm DD Desai Consultant.

Mind The Gap

The audit report by now blacklisted from DD Desai and Associates had mentioned corrosion and cracks. BMC chief engineer confessed it was the civic body’s duty to act accordingly.