Mumbai bridge collapse: Auditor claims bridge was in 'good condition' in 2016, BMC's claims about audit report 'not admissible'

Amid the blame game between the BMC and the audit agency over who is responsible for a foot overbridge collapsing near Mumbai’s CSMT railway station on Thursday night, retired professor DD Desai said that the report was actually submitted in 2016. [caption id=“attachment_6269961” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Six people died after a foot overbridge near the CSMT station in Mumbai collapsed. PTI[/caption] Desai is the director of a private audit firm, DD Desai’s Associated Engineering Consultants and Analysts Pvt Ltd, which is being blamed by the BMC for the bridge collapse. The BMC, in its primary report on Friday, claimed that the auditor had declared the bridge to be in a “good condition” six months ago. However, CNN-News18 quoted Desai as saying that the audit report was actually submitted in 2016, and not 2018. “The bridge was in good condition in 2016. The BMC repaired the bridge twice or thrice after the audit. It’s not admissible at all that the report was given 6 months ago,” he said. Six people were killed and 31 injured after a major portion of a foot overbridge near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus station collapsed. The bridge connected the area near The Times of India building with the railway station and was commonly called ‘Kasab bridge’, because terrorists Ajmal Kasab and Ismail Khan passed through it during the 26/11 attack. The deceased were identified as Apoorva Prabhu (35), Anjana Tambe (40), Bhakti Shinde (40), Zahid Siraj Khan (32), Tapendra Singh (28) and Mohan, said the disaster management cell of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Prabhu and Tambe were employees of the GT Hospital, the officials said. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had on Thursday night  announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each for the families of those who died in the incident and compensation of Rs 50,000 for the injured. He said that the state government will pay for their treatment.