Have warned MCA of dismantling foot overbridges leading to Wankhede, reveals Western Railways

10/19/2019

Western Railways has written to the Mumbai Cricket Association regarding the compensation for repairing two foot-over bridges that are used by fans to enter the Wankhede Stadium and threatened to dismantle it if not paid. The bridges cover North stand, Sunil Gavaskar Stand and Vitthal Divecha Stand.

The foot-over bridges are built over the tracks at the northern end of the Churchgate Railway station. The bridges have got weaker due to constant usage by the fans to enter Wankhede stadium. The Western Railways ran out of patience as they had written such a letter earlier to the MCA t it got ignored. So this time they have threatened to dismantle the bridge if their request is not taken seriously.

“We have written three to four letters and if the MCA does not respond this time, then WR will fix a deadline to dismantle the two FOBs,” WR chief public relations officer Ravinder Bhakar said to Scroll.in

The Western Railway was suggested by the IIT experts that the bridges needed a year of maintenance with repair or replacement of the bridges, but MCA was not ready to bear the brunt of the expenses.

A senior officer of MCA said that the vice president Amol Kale will speak to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal regarding this issue.

“We had incurred an expenditure of Rs 1.75 crore for the repair of the two FOBs in the past. WR even gave us a letter stating the FOBs were okay. However, if they have found them to be unsafe, then we will ask them to share the cost of repairs or rebuilding,” the MCA official said.

With India set to host West Indies at the Wankhede on December 6, it will be intriguing to see how things pan out in this issue.