Defects have been highlighted in many of the dilapidated infrastructure in Mumbai's governance system and, alternatively, in other metropolitan areas of the country. It needs to be addressed immediately.
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Mumbaikars who are running at every moment do not have time to look back. But some events cannot be forgotten. In September 2017, 23 people were killed in a stampede on the pedestrian bridge at Elphinstone Road railway station in Mumbai. Then on 3rd July 2018, some part of Gokhale flyover near Andheri railway station was destroyed by overhead wires. A total of five people were injured in the incident. One of the two critically injured women died a few days later during treatment.
As many as 1,355 trains on the 123-km-long train from Dahanu Road to Churchgate were disrupted, leaving about 35 lakh commuters stranded. Fortunately, the incident took place some time before the rush hour and the driver applied the emergency brake and stopped the locomotive at a short distance from the spot to avoid a major accident. The 'Mumbai lifeline', which was halted immediately after the bridge collapsed, was restored after 18 hours. Due to this, Mumbaikar was trapped in the relationship.
While both the BMC and the Western Railway were responsible for the accident, they wasted days blaming each other. This horrific incident is in fact a big question mark over the safety of the people in the financial capital of the country. After the incident, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, as usual, visited Mumbai and ordered a joint inspection of all bridges under the joint jurisdiction of the Railways and the Municipal Corporation. However, a closer look at the matter reveals that if the bridge had been regularly maintained without any government order, the accident would not have happened. It was not clear who would maintain the 40-year-old bridge.
The 'annual inspection' of this bridge was not carried out and the inspection report of 2016 has not been made public yet. There are no reports or other sources of information on who is responsible for this; So there is complete opacity in this regard.
In 2005, a company unofficially laid an 'optical fiber cable' on the bridge. The company had to pay a fine for that. But even after all these years, there is no answer as to why those unauthorized cables are still there. The Gokhale Bridge was also ordered to be inspected after a stampede on the Elphinstone railway bridge. However, no action has been taken against him.
The incident has once again highlighted the flaws in Mumbai's governing system and, alternatively, in many of the country's crumbling infrastructure. It needs to be addressed immediately.
There needs to be clarity as to who owns public property like bridges. At toll plazas, such as pedestrian bridges, flyovers, underpasses, etc., it is necessary to put up information boards stating which company has done the construction, how many years the company has been operating, the name of the contractor and which company is currently maintaining the route.
The phone number of the contractor or company should be given on it to contact the concerned company. However, as it was not clear who was responsible for the bridge over the darkness, accusations were leveled at each other.
The Gokhale bridge, which collapsed on Tuesday, was constructed by the BMC, but as the bridge came under the jurisdiction of the Railways, both the departments had to take responsibility for the bridge. The bridge needs to be jointly maintained with regular annual inspections, funding and proper planning of work and ultimately safety. Reports of coordination committee meetings and joint examinations should reach the general public.
While these organizations prepare test reports, there must also be a plan for the overall asset management of all organizations. In the case of Mumbai, there should be a joint plan for the maintenance of 77 bridges under the joint jurisdiction of Municipal Corporation and Railway Management. Also, all original copies of the bilateral agreement should be open to the public, including information on the division of labor responsibilities. The status of assets, financial rules, depreciation rate, etc. should be tabulated on the basis of Geographic Information System (GIS).
Although the BMC has come up with a plan in this regard, it does not seem to have come to fruition. It is often noticed that the concerned institutions continue to spend money on tests in the name of maintenance, irrespective of the age of construction. This is especially true of British-era bridges in Mumbai. We think those bridges are immortal.
Determining the age of an object is an important part of the test. It also requires a realistic examination of the life of each object. There is a close relationship between the cost of infrastructure renovation and the cost of maintenance. For some time, it has been noticed that the maintenance cost of a building is very high and the technology used for it is unnecessary and ineffective for repairs. Instead, new construction will automatically reduce maintenance costs. In India, maintenance costs are also closely linked to the contractor lobby, which is only interested in profiteering.
Modern asset management systems must take into account the amount of salts in the water in relation to climate change, the method of water infiltration, and the ability of iron to expand due to heat.
In the last few years, many innocent lives have been lost due to the depression and neglect of the governing bodies. Due to improper pruning of roadside plants, large trees have fallen and many have died in open gutters. Potholes have caused many accidents
Despite all this, Mumbai is slowly recovering and the 'spirit' of Mumbai is being celebrated. But city managers need to pay serious attention to the safety of the people and keep all the infrastructure in good condition. Not every day will be lucky.
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