Beware, Brit-built bridges of Pune are in precarious state

Structural audit report recommends urgent repairs of ten bridges in Pune, but work is yet to begin owing to red tape

The bridge over the Savitri river on the Mumbai-Goa highway collapsed on August 2, claiming a number of lives. This bridge constructed by the British had passed its expiry date, and was still in use. It cast focus on the state of the old bridges in Pune built by the British. Soon after the Savitri accident, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) mayor ordered a structural audit of 18 old bridges. C V Kand Consultant Pvt Ltd did the structural audit of these 18 bridges and submitted its report to the mayor as well as the administration. The report shows that ten bridges out of these 18 in the city needed immediate repairs. PMC made budgetary provision for the repair work worth Rs 7,72,00,000 of these bridges in August 2015 itself. But the repair work has not started yet, due to delay by the administration in tender procedure. There is now the risk to the lives of people who use these bridges every day.

Many of the ten bridges which need immediate repair were constructed by the British, and they have outlived their validity. C V Kand Consultant Pvt Ltd had recommended urgent repair work of Mundhwa bridge, Old Harris bridge, Shivaji bridge, Balgandharva bridge, Bopodi, Spicer College bridge, Wellesley bridge, Rajiv Gandhi bridge, Old Sangam bridge and Sambhaji bridge. It mentioned that there were cracks in these bridges that needed immediate repair. There was also urgent need to replace of tar layer of roads over the bridges, gap repairs and consolidation work. Soon after the submission of the report to city development committee and mayor, Mayor Prashant Jagtap ordered immediate commencement of work.

PMC chief engineer Sriniwas Bonala said, “After the Savitri bridge collapse, we did structural audit of old bridges in the city immediately. The structural audit report recommended immediate repair work of ten bridges. PMC allocated Rs 7,72,00,000 for the repair work of these bridges. Before this report, PMC’s traffic department had done the structural audit of these 18 bridges in Pune in the year 2014. This report recommended need of repair and consolidation work of 12 bridges out of 18 old bridges in the city. We already started the repair work of Dengle bridge and Bund Garden bridge, and work is still going on. Now C V Kand Consultant Pvt Ltd has suggested repair work of ten bridges. We have the budget so we will float a tender in the coming few days and then start repair work immediately.”

Mayor Jagtap said, “We got the report of C V Kand Consultant of structural audit of 18 old bridges. This is serious concern for us I ordered administration to start repair and consolidation work of these ten brides on immediate basis. We made budget provision of Rs 7,72,00,000 for the repair work. Very soon repair and consolidation work of these bridges will start.”

tushar.rupanavar@ goldensparrow.com

Originally published on The Golden Sparrow