Reasons were listed in Azad Maidan police's supplementary charge sheet filed on Thursday, without BMC's much-awaited nod
The VJTI report blamed the collapse on heavy corrosion. File pic
The supplementary charge sheet carries the VJTI report blaming the collapse on heavy corrosion. The report states, "There was heavy corrosion on the crossbeams of the bridge; the thickness of the steel of the base of the bridge also reduced to a great extent because of this corrosion. The structural auditor should have looked into this corrosion." Apart from the VJTI report, Azad Maidan police recorded the statements of two assistant engineers of A ward, who are now witnesses in the case.
One of them said they had written to the executive engineer of the bridges department, A R Patil, who is also an accused, on November 3, 2016 asking him about the stability of the bridge. The letter was sent as BMC was planning on beautifying the bridge under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. Following that, former BMC chief Ajoy Mehta visited the bridge on October 25 and gave instructions for its beautification.
As per the charge sheet, Patil was supposed to respond to the letter, which he didn't do. A ward then went ahead with the beautification without a stability report. Accused structural auditor Neeraj Desai, who is also the director of the D D Desai firm also claimed that the beautification added to the dead load on the bridge, which resulted in the collapse.
Meanwhile, chief engineer of BMC, Sanjay Darade, said in his statement that the base of the bridge was not audited by D D Desai, which is why the collapse occurred. He also said there was a communication gap between BMC officials and the firm.
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