While the BMC was content to point fingers at the forest department over the delay in the Shrikrishna Nagar bridge reconstruction, mid-day has found that the delay is actually due to the BMC itself. The forest department requires a letter from the BMC’s ward-level committee about the work of the bridge. But as the civic term ended in March 2022, the ward committee doesn’t exist. The Bridges Department then approached the R central ward for the letter. Following the dissolution of the BMC and no subsequent civic elections, all power now rests with administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal.

“The authority may not be with the R central ward but they have to put forth the proposal to the commissioner for permission, as it is a local level issue. The bridges department sent a letter to the R C ward seven months back and has been following up on the matter but has received no response,” an official from the Bridges Department told mid-day.

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Administrator takes action

“We discussed the issue with the commissioner on Monday. He instructed the DMC of zone VII (under whom R Central Ward comes) to send him a proposal. He will sanction it and send it to the forest department. He even asked the official to follow up with the Nagpur headquarters of the forest department,” said Prakash Surve, local MLA from Borivli who had a meeting with the civic chief on the subject.

BMC officials said that only 15 per cent of the bridge is on forest land and does not affect the wildlife, but transfer of the land from the forest department to the BMC will need requisite permissions. The proposal was sent to the forest department’s Mumbai office over a year ago and permission was granted in March this year. The proposal was then forwarded to the forest department headquarters in Nagpur. However, they will require a letter from the local authority (R Central ward) before granting the permission.