BMC demolish 28 illegal structures obstructing Gokhale bridge construction

The civic body on Wednesday demolished 28 structures, coming in the way of a crane brought in for the construction of Gokhale Bridge, a key Andheri east-west connector.Assistant Municipal Commissioner Manish Valanju said that 32 structures were falling along the area required for the construction of the bridge, out of which 28 were demolished on Wednesday and four others were removed by the occupants voluntarily.

The BMC had hit a roadblock because 13 of the 32 structures were residential. The officials had said that the residents could not be evicted during monsoons as per court orders. Four of the 13 houses were eligible and were rehabilitated under Project Affected People (PAP) Act.A senior official of the K east ward said, “Four structures were shifted under PAP Act and the remaining people, in nine structures, have been provided temporary shelter till monsoons. We have now made the space available to the contractor for the crane movement.”

On September 4, the deadline for opening the bridge was pushed to December from its Diwali target. The announcement for the same was made while local MLA Ameet Satam visited the bridge along with the BMC officials.Satam had indicated that he anticipates the bridge may be opened partially in the first week of December, which he now says will hopefully open in the next 85 days, which is November 30.