BMC Responsible For Foot-Over Bridge Collapse That Killed 6, Alleges PIL Before Bombay HC; Seeks Rs.1 Cr Relief For Victims' Kin

A PIL has been filed before the Bombay High Court by a 73-year-old advocate VP Patil seeking compensation of Rs.1 crore for families of those who died in the foot-over-bridge (FOB) collapse that killed six people and injured 31 others on March 14.

This horrific incident took place at 7:35 pm near the Times of India building in the CST building area when a large portion of the said bridge caved in. Commuters below the bridge at the time were amongst the 31 injured.

The petitioner, who was a member of the state judiciary for 26 years, has also sought a compensation of Rs.25 lakh for the injured victims under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, as against the Rs.5 lakh in compensation for families of the dead and Rs.25,000 for injured victims announced by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The PIL states: "The persons died and injured have no fault of their but for the fault of the B.M.C. they suffered and the B.M.C. liable to pay compensation to the above victims. Shri Devendra Fadnavis has declared a sum of Rs. 5,00,000/- each to heirs of dead persons and Rs. 25,000/- to each injured. This is a mockery when the State and Central funds Rs. 3700 Crores are lying with Government under the Disaster Management Act, which is meant for such incident."

The PIL claimed that District Plan for Mumbai City under Section 31 of Disaster Management Act, 2005, was not followed and that the Structural Audit Report by the BMC is false and eye-wash. One of the prayers in the PIL is that erring officers be punished under Section 65 read with 57 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the BMC office be punished under Section 52 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 for making false claim that the bridge was OK for pedestrians.

The petitioner also sought criminal action against the negligent officers of the BMC under Section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC has been sought in the PIL.

Although, the PIL is yet to come up for hearing, it is likely to be mentioned on Tuesday before the bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Mridula Bhatkar, which is already hearing a plea on the condition of FOBs in the city.