6 dead and 31 injured! How was this bridge declared safe?

Updated On: 15 March, 2019 07:10 AM IST | Mumbai | Chetna Sadadekar and Rupsa Chakraborty

Seven months after similar tragedy at Andheri station, floor of a pedestrian walkway outside CSMT gives way and falls on passing vehicles on busy DN Road; CM orders audit report probe, vows those responsible will be punished

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The foot overbridge that connects the north end of CSMT platform 1 with BT Lane outside the station. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

A BMC-appointed structural consultant who had inspected the Foot Over Bridge on DN Road connecting CSMT station's north end seems to have failed to gauge its condition: the bridge collapsed on Thursday evening during evening peak hours killing six people and injuring 31. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered a probe into the consultant's submitted report. The bridge was part of the audit ordered after the Elphinstone Road stampede in 2017. Fadnavis has announced compensation of R5 lakh to the kin of the dead and R50,000 compensation to the injured.

Around two years back, the BMC's A ward office had started revamping the bridge in keeping with heritage look of the CSMT area. However, the iron rods that were visibly corroded as the locals pointed out crumbled and crushed passers-by last evening. The bridge was constructed in the 1980s and contractors were to be appointed for minor repairs to the bridge, said civic officials.