Hoax busted: Kemps Corner flyover is safe, clarifies Mumbai municipal corporation

After a photo of the Mumbai Kemps Corner flyover bearing a huge crack took the internet by storm, the municipal corporation of the densely populated city clarified that the 'fissure' was a fault in the design of the bridge caused by its alignment when it was constructed in 1965.

On Sunday, May 6, several social media platforms were flooded with the photo of the fissure on the Kemps Corner flyover. Mumbaikars shared the photo extensively and even tagged the city police and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as it caused panic among them.

Responding to the image, the BMC not only provided a detailed report on what the fissure was but has also decided to carry out a structural audit of the first flyover that was built in India after independence.

"The bridge is absolutely safe. The fissure is not a crack. It is a fault in design, right from the time the bridge was constructed, due to alignment. My department recently concluded a structural audit of the bridge, and found it in good condition, needing only minor repairs. Yet, due to the number of complaints, we are working on finding a way to fix the alignment via another audit" Hindustan Times quoted SO Kori, chief engineer of the bridges department of BMC, as saying.

He added that the fault was a result of an inability to join the two slabs. As the engineers would have had to wait for three to four months to import the correct joint, they went ahead with the construction.

"The bridge was constructed in a record time of seven months. It is not unsound or unsafe," Kori asserted.

Even Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray took to Twitter to pacify the residents and assured that an audit will be conducted.

The flyover had undergone an audit in 2016 along with 313 other bridges in the city, after a British-era bridge in Mahad collapsed on August 2, 2016, leading to the death of over 30 people.

Here'a how Mumbaikars reacted to the photo of the fault on Kemps Corner flyover: