‘Effectively monitor bridges & govt buildings, ensure they are built as per approved designs’: Surat district in-charge secretary to officials

In the meeting, officials shared detailed information with Topno on the current status and conditions of public service buildings or government office buildings, schools and colleges, Anganwadis, and bridges in Surat city and district.

During the meeting, the incharge secretary said, “During the construction of any bridge or government building, it is necessary to effectively monitor that the construction is done as per the approved design. The officials should ensure that the inspection and monitoring of the bridges are done as per the prescribed IRC code.”

IRC or the Indian Roads Congress is considered the apex body of highway engineers in the country.

Topno also emphasised that officials should supervise the surface design of the highway bridges as well as Railway bridges. There should be timely checks of footover bridges at Railway stations, and a third-party agency should conduct inspections, he said.

The meeting was attended by Surat Municipal Commissioner Shalini Agarwal along with officials from the Bridge department, Surat District Development Officer Shivani Goyal and her team, and officials from the Roads and Buildings (R&B) department, among others.

Commissioner Agrawal shared a presentation on the 121 bridges along with their health card reports. She also informed the incharge secretary that the bridges are repaired periodically under the “Bridge Rehabilitation Scheme”, adding that no bridges are in a dilapidated state at present.

At the district level, the officials informed Topno that inspection of bridges that come under the R&B Department, District Panchayat, Surat Canal Department, Kakrapar-Jamna Kantha (Kakrapar Right bank canal) and Ukai Daba Kantha (Ukai left bank canal) has been completed.
The officials said that 25 bridges under National Highway-53 and four bridges that come under National Highway-48 have been inspected recently.
Besides, seven bridges coming under Gujarat Metro, 18 under Gujarat State Road Development Corporation, seven under Surat Urban Development Authority (SUDA) and 45 under the Railway Department, among others, have also been inspected.

The condition of government offices, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, college buildings, city and district government schools, Anganwadi centres, roads and buildings, SMIMER-Civil Hospital and District Health Department buildings were also reviewed during the meeting.

Surat District Development Officer Goyal said, “SMC officials, R&B department officials, district development officials and others had shared their reports about the condition of the bridges and government buildings in the meeting with the Surat district in-charge secretary. He laid emphasis on monitoring of government buildings and bridges and ensuring that it is done as per the approved design.”