CM Fadnavis inaugurates Mahad bridge

Mumbai: Almost a year after the Mahad bridge over the Savitri river collapsed, a new bridge on the same stretch was inaugurated on Monday by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in the presence of union minister Nitin Gadkari. The new bridge was constructed in a record 165 days at a cost of approximately Rs 35 crore. When the earlier bridge collapsed in August 2016, 30 persons lost their lives and 10 people went missing.

The chief minister’s office (CMO) on Monday tweeted that the new, three-lane bridge had been inaugurated that was built in 165 days at a cost of Rs 35.55 crore. This was followed by Mr Gadkari’s tweet that the prior deadline was 180 days to rebuild the bridge however the same had been readied for public use within 165 days, thanks to the hard work put in by state government officials and engineers.

After the former bridge collapsed, the state government had said that it was 100 years old and constructed during colonial times, adding that its safety audit had been conducted only in May 2016 after which it had been declared fit for transportation. However, the opposition had demanded that responsibility for the collapse be fixed accordingly, considering the fitness certificate for the bridge had been issued only a couple of months ago. The CM had later launched a judicial inquiry into the collapse and ordered a safety audit of bridges state-wide to ensure that they were fit for use. After the collapse last year, nearly 20 boats and 160 personnel from the Coast Guard, NDRF and Navy had been deployed in the search operation, with district administration also taking help from local fishermen to locate the victims.

Further, the state government had announced help of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the deceased.