Dismal FOB at EEH Renovated!
People can start using the bridge soon!!
Residents living in MHADA Colony, Mulund East, can cheer as the crusade of Home Times and the MHADA Colony Association has yielded dividends. The long-pending demand to repair the dismal FOB built near Anand Nagar Toll Naka on the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) has been finally heard. The concerned MMRDA officials have awakened from their slumber after repeated follow-ups and persuasions by Home Times Team. The good news is that the FOB repair work has been completed and soon people who had abandoned using the bridge due to fear of a collapse can use the bridge!!
It may be recalled, after the infamous collapse of the Himalaya Bridge at CST that killed 6 people and injured several, the BMC and the Railway administration received severe criticism from the public and their top officials. Subsequently, they realized the severity of the situation and started examining the depleted and dangerous FOBs in Mumbai and issued orders of re-audit of all the bridges in Mumbai!!
Home Times did an in-depth survey of all the dilapidated and unsafe FOBs in Mulund and published the news highlighting the dismal condition of several bridges in Mulund including the FOB at Anand Nagar Toll Naka on Eastern Express Highway in Mulund East.
Home Times, in its reality check, reported that the FOB on Eastern Express Highway in Mulund East is in a serious condition. The staircases are broken and jagged, making it difficult for pedestrians to walk over them. What is most dangerous is that the beams supporting the bridge have multiple cracks, indicating the FOB is unsafe and may prove fatal for people walking over the bridge!! The lower portion of the FOB is not at all robust and is too weak to sustain the load!!!
It may be noted that the FOB is the only bridge connecting people from Mulund East to West. Hence, the FOB is used by several people living at MHADA Colony, particularly school students and senior citizens. It is also used by many residents living at Hari Om Nagar.
Secondly, the FOB at this juncture is most essential because in its absence crossing the risky Eastern Express Highway is no less than giving an open invitation to death. But, after the news of the crash of CST FOB, people became afraid and had stopped commuting on the bridge. But now, people can soon start using the bridge as the repeated follow-ups by Home Times forced the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) officials to take the matter seriously.
An MMRDA official told Home Times, “A few months back, the MMRDA officials had a meeting regarding dilapidated bridges in Mumbai. In this regard, our officers visited the FOB at Eastern Express Highway. Later, a Work Order for the repairing of the bridge was released. Shortly thereafter, the repair work began on a war footing. Soon the FOB will be open for the public.”
