Devendra Fadnavis: Fix responsibility for bridge collapse by Friday

Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he had asked BMC chief Ajoy Mehta to fix "primary responsibility" for Thursday's foot overbridge collapse by Friday evening. The deck of a foot overbridge on DN Road connected to CSMT station collapsed Thursday evening, killing six persons and injuring 31.

Fadnavis was speaking to reporters after meeting the injured in St George's Hospital nearby. "It is shocking that such an accident can take place even after a structural audit. Primary responsibility will be fixed by this evening. I have asked civic chief (Ajoy Mehta) to find out names of those responsible," Fadnavis said.

"A high-level probe into this incident has already been ordered. Those responsible (for the collapse) will be punished," he said. Earlier in the day, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official had said the FOB was found to be structurally safe when it was audited in August 2016, soon after a British-era bridge over Savitri River got washed away in monsoon downpour in Mahad in Raigad district.

During that audit, 354 bridges were checked for their structural soundness. The FOB that collapsed on Thursday was marked C2B. This means it needed minor repairs only. Tenders were floated for the repair but it got held up," the official had said on Friday morning.

Fadnavis also said he had ordered a re-visit of all earlier structural audits carried out on such structures. The Maharashtra CM visited the mishap site post the visit to the hospital.

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