Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has reportedly said that he had asked BMC chief Ajoy Mehta to fix “primary responsibility” for the 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 had earlier tweeted about the incident
Pained to hear about the FOB incident near TOI building in Mumbai.
Spoke to BMC Commissioner and @MumbaiPolice officials and instructed to ensure speedy relief efforts in coordination with @RailMinIndia officials.— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) March 14, 2019
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 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 Friday morning. Fadnavis also said he had ordered a re-visit of all earlier structural audits carried out on such structures.
