As demolition work for the 131-year-old Bellasis Road bridge was taken up at midnight on Tuesday, a historic rare marble plaque at the corner of the bridge with a mention of the 18th-century road built at the site earlier will be saved and restored by the Western Railway. The marble plaque mentions that a kilometre-long stretch named after British Major General John Bellasis was constructed in the 18th century by the poor driven out of Surat due to a famine in 1793. The bridge at the site came up around 1893 over the railway lines and connects Nagpada Junction to Tardeo, passing Mumbai Central railway station.

The bridge has turned into a garbage dump. Pics/R Venkatesh