‘Andheri’s Misaligned Gokhale Bridge Issue of Shame’: Aaditya Thackeray Asks Maharashtra Governor to Suspend BMC Chief, Rly Officials

Aaditya Thackeray, former cabinet minister and leader of the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT), has written to Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais, demanding the suspension of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief Iqbal Singh Chahal and railway officials responsible for construction of the misaligned Gokhale Bridge in Mumbai’s Andheri.

Although the BMC has partially opened the Gokhale Bridge, the issue of traffic has not been resolved, as could not be connected to the Barfiwala bridge owing to different alignments. Facing flak from all quarters, the BMC has said the rectification work could take a year. This, however, will, in turn, add to the troubles of motorists, forcing them to manoevre through the already crowded SV Road. The BMC has also roped in consultants of the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) to decide the course of action.

“The reconstructed Gokhale Bridge has become an issue of shame, the news of the failure of the authorities who were responsible for reconstructing it has spread in the entire country and both BMC and India railways authority are playing the blame game, hence I request you to suspend the BMC Chief and competent railway officers who were given the responsibility to reconstruct this bridge. So that they won’t be able to interfere further in this issue and should face the music for playing with money of the public.”

According to Thackeray, the Gokhale bridge is the perfect example of a “nexus” between politicians, government officials and contractors. “The local MLA visited the bridge site many times along with the officers concerned. But in those visits, they couldn’t find the flaw in the construction of the bridge. Or was it done to create a ‘flaw’ so that the other adjacent bridge could be demolished and a new tender could be floated,” asked Thackeray.

In the same letter, Thackeray also raised the issue that despite the Election Commission’s order to transfer Chahal from his current post, no action has been taken so far by the state. “This is clear defiance of the order of Election Commission and also shows how much this unconstitutional state government is taking Election Commission for granted,” he wrote.