No freebies for Army on locals

Mumbai: The Army has asked the Railways to provide its personnel free passes to work until January 31 on the three bridges at Elphinstone Road, Currey Road and Ambivili. The Army has presented an estimate of Rs 1.36 crore for the three proposed bridges, which will be paid for by the railways. The move came after the Railways recently permitted Mumbai police personnel to travel without ticket on suburban local trains if they are in uniform.

In a meeting held until late Tuesday evening at Churchgate, the Army has requested that they be allowed to travel for free once the work begins as expected by mid-November. Officials said that the request is unlikely to be agreed upon as the railways has gotten a little weary after union rail minister Piyush Goyal agreed to provide the free travel facility to Mumbai police.

An official said, “They were not demanding as such, but we have told them that their officers or personnel can be given the money to buy a pass from what the railways will be paying to the Army for the work.”

Another official said, “The Army was concerned that their men should not be stopped by the frontline staff of railways, that is the ticket collector while they are running around all over the place trying to build the bridges.” He further added, “We have asked them to adjust it in the amount that we will be paying for the work, but we will try to see if any relaxation can be made for them.”

The Army is expected to start work at Elphinstone Road by November 20 and has already partially started work at Currey Raod and Ambivili.

During his visit to the city on October 31, Mr Goyal had announced that the Parel-Elphinstone Road Bridge would be built by the Army in a record time of three months. An SOS call was sent out to the Army after the stampede on this very bridge on September 29.