When will Sandhurst Road bridge be built, asks Bombay High Court
The Bombay high court Monday asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Central Railway (CR) authorities how much time would it take to construct a foot overbridge (FoB) at Sandhurst Road in South Mumbai to prevent train tragedies.
A division bench of Justice Shantanu Kemkar and Justice M.S. Karnik directed the civic body and CR to inform the court by June 14 as to when it would complete construction of the FoB that would be used by commuters to cross railway tracks.
After the demolition of Hancock Bridge, people were forced to cross railway tracks to get from one side to the other, which led to several accidents and also the death of a schoolboy.
The direction was given during the hearing of a petition filed by city resident Kamlakar Shenoy.
Furthermore, Trupti Puranik, the civic body’s advocate, on Monday informed the court that a meeting between the BMC and CR was held, but no deadline was fixed by their authorities to complete the FoB’s construction.
Last month, the court had directed the BMC and CR to decide on a site where a temporary FoB could be constructed to help people cross Sandhurst Road.
The CR was also directed to ensure border walls along the tracks are properly built to avoid illegal railway crossing. The BMC had started the demolition of the 135-year-old Hancock Railway FoB in November 2015. The bridge, which stood between Byculla and Dadar, was one of the oldest FoBs in the city.