IIT audit of 280 overbridges not yet submitted to CR: RTI

A Right to Information query has revealed safety audit reports of 191 foot overbridges (FOBs) and 89 road overbridges (ROBs) conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has not been submitted to Central Railway yet.

The RTI reply by CR's Divisional Engineer of Bridges has also found that CR has so far paid 50 per cent advance amount of Rs 1.68 crore, out of Rs 3.37 crore, of safety audit charges.

The CR reply informed that, generally, safety audits of FOBs and road overbridges are not assigned to outside agencies and they are inspected annually before and after the monsoon by railway engineers.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had asked the railways, in collaboration with IIT Bombay, to inspect 445 such structures in the suburban network after a part of an ROB collapsed at Andheri station on July 3 last year.

Replying to an RTI query filed by activist Anil Galgali, CR said IIT Bombay had carried out safety audit of 191 FOBs and 89 ROBS between August last and March this year, but the report on them was still to be submitted to it.

Galgali called the issue "unprofessional" and said he had written to Goyal to make the safety audit report public by uploading it online.

When contacted, CR chief Public Relations Officer Sunil Udasi said, "We have started receiving reports now from IIT Bombay and suitable action is being taken to ensure commuter safety.