Mumbai's Bellasis Bridge Set to Get a New Name, Erasing Colonial Legacy

Ahilyabai Holkar, Jagannath ‘Nana’ Shankar Seth and Lata Mangeshkar–Mumbai’s century-old landmark Bellasis Bridge is set to be renamed after one of these personalities as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is set to do away with the old name to remove the colonial imprint on the structure. Even though the construction of this bridge was completed a month ago, the opening of it has been stuck owing to finalising a new name for the bridge. Civic officials said the current government wants to rename this bridge since the old name highlights India’s colonial past. At present, the bridge is named after Major General John Bellasis, who commissioned the link connecting the Mahim Causeway to Malabar Hill in 1793. In July last year, the civic authorities renamed Mumbai’s old Carnac bridge as ‘Sindoor Bridge’ to commemorate Operation Sindoor–India’s armed forces military response against the Pahalgam terror attacks which killed 26 tourists. Civic sources maintained that the three new names for the Bellasis Bridge have been proposed by minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha who is also the local MLA. “I have proposed these three names to the BMC’s ward office. Now they will verify the names and send it forward to the higher authorities for final approval. The overall process takes 1-3 months,” Lodha told the Indian Express on Saturday. According to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act, whenever a new monument or public infrastructure project is constructed or a road is to be renamed, then the local ward office submits preferred names to the BMC’s special works committee for approval. Civic officials maintained that following Lodha’s suggestion, the local ward office has sent the list of names to the civic headquarters for its approval. However, the approval is likely to take time since the statutory committees are yet to be formed in the BMC. Usually, public places are named after personalities who have contributed in building and preserving Mumbai’s history and legacy. After the name gets submitted to these committees, the members approve or discard it on a voting basis. However, Lodha’s proposal is also met with a challenge since the BMC’s rule states that a personality’s name can only be used for naming only one particular structure. “In Dadar, there is already a flyover named after Nana Shankar Seth. So, it is unlikely that this name could be used again. The names will be passed to the works committee which will take the final call,” an official said. The members of these committees comprise elected corporators. In the past four years, since the BMC didn’t have a body of elected representatives in place, the municipal commissioner was empowered to name and rename public properties. Now that the elected representatives are back in the municipal corporation, the statutory committees will have the final say in renaming the bridge. The formation of the statutory committees will take place in BMC on February 16, following which the election of the chairpersons is likely to be held on February 20. “The committees will only pass a document that will register the name. If the chief minister or the mayor makes a public announcement of the bridge, then the name gets automatically confirmed and later the committees can grant a post facto clearance,” said the official. Built at a cost of Rs 110 crore, the Bellasis Bridge connects traffic movement between Nagpada and Tardeo and is a railway overbridge (ROB) that passes above railway tracks. However, following a structural audit report in 2018, it was found that the bridge has lived its age. Following this, the BMC decided to construct a new bridge by pulling down the old structure .