Aaditya Thackeray’s dig at Eknath Shinde: ‘Corrupt man’ and his contractor best friends behind crumbling roads

Potholes and cracks were visible on the Kopri rail overbridge, in Thane, on Monday. Pic/Sameer Markande

The sorry state of Kopri bridge, which was highlighted by mid-day on Tuesday, has sparked a war of words. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former minister Aaditya Thackeray has lashed out at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, saying that the bridge was inaugurated by the latter on his birthday, February 9, this year.

Thackeray demanded an unbiased probe into the matter. mid-day, in its report ‘Now, Thane's Kopri bridge disintegrates', shed light on how the rail overbridge (ROB), which was opened amid much fanfare, was the latest example of shoddy work on a long list of quality failures this monsoon. MLA Pratap Sarnaik and S V R Srinivas, the then-metropolitan commissioner, were present at the inauguration.

Potholes are visible on the Kopri rail overbridge on Monday

Taking a potshot at Shinde, Thackeray tweeted on Tuesday, "Dirty politics, shoddy works under illegal CM (Corrupt Man). @MMRDAOfficial's recently inaugurated Kopri Bridge is victim of shoddy works. Though we don't expect any action on corruption as contractors are CM's best friends, there must be a fair investigation into this (sic)."

He also criticised the government for the potholes that had come up on the Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) extension bridge which was inaugurated a few months ago. "Likewise, the SCLR, inaugurated a few months ago was riddled with potholes, shoddy works and more so, now is under repairs. It was inaugurated in February 2023. Under the corrupt man (CM) of mindhe- bjp sarkar, contractors have looted the state (sic)," he tweeted.

Workers repair the damaged portion of the bridge on Monday. Pics/Sameer Markande

The cement concrete portion of the Kopri bridge has developed cracks and potholes. The MMRDA said this stretch was built by Central Railway (CR). A CR official told mid-day, "Fixing the ROB is Railways' responsibility. These potholes will be attended to in the next two to three days."

A private contractor, Biju Augustin, told mid-day, "Coating the deck of bridges with asphalt protects them from abrasion and wear and tear. Cement concrete roads on a bridge or flyover do not last long. If potholes have appeared on the cement concrete section of the Kopri bridge in just a few months since its opening, poor quality material may have been used during construction."

CR's public relations officer was unavailable for comment when this reporter tried to contact him via text message to find out the name of the contractor who built the cement concrete portion of the ROB.