Ahmedabad/Surat: The much-awaited cable-stayed bridge over Tapi River was inaugurated with a huge fanfare by chief minister Vijay Rupani last month. But the bridge is to get the mandatory Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) clearance from Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF).In fact, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC)’s application for CRZ clearance is still pending with the MoEF. The bridge partly falls within CRZ II, that is 100 m from high tide line of Tapi as well as in CRZ 1B and CRZ IV B (within bed area of the river ). In June this year, the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) had rapped the SMC for beginning construction of the bridge on the river without CRZ clearance. But the civic body seems to have gone ahead with construction of bridge sans the CRZ clearance and opened it for public on October 2.SMC commissioner M Thennaresan told TOI, “We have a conditional CRZ clearance from the MoEF (for the cable-stayed bridge). We have been asked by the MoEF to report the impact of vehicular movement on the bridge.”In its 40th meeting, GCZMA observed that “construction has been started without obtaining prior CRZ clearance from the competent authority and thus it is violation of CRZ notification.” It further observed that under the CRZ notification 2011, this was in the permissible activities and considering the CRZ amendment notification of March 6, 2018, recommended the project for CRZ clearance to MoEF. The construction of Rs 143 crore cable-stayed bridge had started in 2010 and it took eight years for completion. It was delayed due to the collapse of curved portion of the flyover connecting cable-stayed bridge at Athwalines, which had killed 10 construction labourers on June 10, 2014.After the collapse of the flyover bridge, the construction activity of the cable-stayed bridge was suspended and it began only by the mid-2016. It was only in June this year that the SMC applied for CRZ clearance with the GCZMA.The four-lane cable-stayed bridge with a capacity of 5,000 passenger car unit (PCU) has 300 metre of cable portion. It would cater to nearly 5 lakh people of Adajan, Pal and Athwa and reduce travel time of people by at least 15 minutes.

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