What is the whole matter of Gokhale Bridge?
There is a place in mumbai, Andheri, the population here is around 15 lakhs. Many railway lines pass around this Andheri. Gokhale Bridge was built in 1975 to cross these railway lines. This bridge was working to connect many posh areas of mumbai, due to which the connectivity of Andheri and surrounding people was very good, but in 2018, a part of it collapsed. Two people died due to the collapse of the bridge. At that time there was nda government in the center and the state. As the controversy escalated, mumbai Municipality talked about rebuilding this bridge. The maharashtra government has announced the opening of this bridge a few months before the 2024 elections, although the incomplete construction has pushed the government on the backfoot. The government which is on back foot is not able to say anything regarding Gokhale Bridge.
Understand the technical problem of Gokhale Bridge
The big question is that after construction, why are questions being raised on Gokhale Bridge? Let us understand it in detail-
Gokhale Bridge connects Andheri to the west and east. There is a flyover named CD Barfiwala near it, which directly connects many posh areas of mumbai to Andheri. A part of the bridge was to be connected to the flyover, but it could not be connected. Due to the negligence of mumbai Municipality, a 2 meter deep gap has formed between the bridge and the flyover.
Now those going to CD Barfiwala will have to take a detour across the bridge. Due to lack of data-alignment of flyover and bridge, people coming from Andheri, Juhu, Versova and Lokhandwala will data-face difficulties. When there is a dispute, the Municipal Corporation says that there is a problem in the height of both the bridges, hence now it will have to be constructed afresh. Experts say that if an attempt is made to data-align the two, then Swami Vivekananda Marg and Juhu Marg will have to be completely closed, which will deepen the traffic jam problem in Mumbai.