Tuesday, November 24, 2009

State Excise Minister Ganesh Naik Orders Immediate Repair Work For Sanpada Bridge After Inspection

Looks like authorities have finally woken up to the dangers of weak bridges along rail routes post the Kopri incident. In the course, State Excise and Non-Conventional Resources Minister Ganesh Naik paid an inspection visit along with officials at the Sanpada Bridge that has been reeling under unsafe conditions for years. The Minister has ordered immediate repair work of the bridge.

Every year, Dutta Jayanti is organized on a grand scale on December 1st at the Dutt Temple at Sanpada. Lakhs of devotees from all over the city and nearby areas come at the temple for Dutt Jayanthi. And scores of these devotees use the Sanpada railway bridge to reach the temple. The Sanpada bridge that was built years ago jointly by CIDCO and Railways was never maintained post its construction. This is one of the reasons why the bridge reels under highly deplorable conditions. Continuous movement of trains on the rail routes underneath the bridge has led to it being in shaky conditions putting the lives of commuters using it at risk. For years the locals have been demanding that the bridge be repaired but all in vain. At last, State Excise and Non-Conventional Resources Minister Ganesh Naik visited the bridge for an inspection. He was accompanied by MP Dr. Sanjeev Naik, MLA Sandeep Naik, Commissioner Vijay Nahata, CIDCO Officer B K Hariya and others. During the visit Ganesh Naik was seen issuing instructions to carry out immediate reconstruction of the bridge. The locals of Sanpada had been appealing Ganesh Naik to pay attention to the condition of the bridge for a year now. Earlier Ganesh Naik had mooted the idea of a subway but now he opined that an escalator bridge would be a better option.

Since the plans of an escalator bridge would take time and Dutta Jayanthi is coming closer, Ganesh Naik ordered that authorities work of providing some support to the bridge for the festival. He also ordered that special care be taken on the festival day for the safety of devotees using the bridge. For this Ganesh Naik ordered a technical inspection of the bridge at the earliest.

Without mincing words, Ganesh Naik held CIDCO responsible for the present condition of the bridge. It is a known fact that there are many such bridges on rail routes on the city that CIDCO and Railways both refuse to repair passing the buck of responsibility on the other. Ganesh Naik said that if shortage of funds is the reason for this, then they would consider repairing them with JNNURM funds. Ganesh Naik said that there many flaws in CIDCO work, which would be corrected. Sanpada Bridge is one of the biggest issues that haunt locals. Hence it will be a wait and watch when this order of the Minister is executed by officials.

No comments:

Post a Comment