MSRDC yet to be informed to close Patri Pool RoB

MUMBAI: Despite the railway having directed the closure of the Patri Pool road-over-bridge (RoB) at Kalyan two days ago after a July 20 joint inspection with IIT Mumbai found it unsafe, the same is still to be shut down. The reason is that communication is yet to reach the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which maintains the RoB, revealed sources.

The Central Railway (CR) had advised the Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to shut down the Patri Pool as it was found “unsafe” for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic in a joint inspection carried out by IIT Mumbai, CR, and KDMC officials on July 20. A MSRDC official said that they had not yet received any communication from the KDMC or CR to close down Patri Pool. Located at the CSMT end of Kalyan, the more-than-a-century-old Patri Pool connects Kalyan east and Kalyan west.

A MSRDC official said, “The Public Works Department transferred the bridge to our jurisdiction for maintenance purposes in 2005. We have repaired the upper layer of the bridge with bitumen.”

The official said that within two days of receiving official communication for closure of the bridge, the MSRDC would close it by barricading both sides.

On the advice of the CR, the MSRDC had stopped movement of heavy vehicles in June 2018 by erecting an overhead barricade meant to regulate the height of vehicles passing under the bridge.

Officials also claimed that the Patri Pool would be constructed by the MSRDC this time.