3 min readNew DelhiSep 22, 2010 03:56 AM IST
First published on: Sep 22, 2010 at 03:56 AM IST
An under-construction foot overbridge over the Barapullah flyover leading to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium,the main Commonwealth Games venue,collapsed on Tuesday afternoon adding to troubles of the CWG organisers and the Delhi government. Of the 27 labourers injured in the incident,four are said to be critical.
DCP South H G S Dhaliwal said an accident case will be registered. He did not say whether the contractor or work supervisor would be booked for negligence. “We are yet to ascertain what exactly led to the collapse. As of now,we are focussing on sanitising the area,” said Dhaliwal.
Mohammed Ishtyag,a 28-year-old labourer who witnessed the incident,said: “Around 3.30 pm,the bridge collapsed in a matter of seconds. First the left side of the bridge collapsed,followed by the rest of the structure.”
Fire Department officials said the bridge collapsed as labourers were putting concrete mix on a portion of the bridge. “The labourers were recarpeting the base of the bridge with concrete. But the bridge collapsed,apparently due to excess cementing,” said senior police officers. The injured were rushed to the AIIMS Trauma Centre.
The 95-metre-long hanging bridge was meant to help spectators access the stadium from the parking area. The Barapullah corridor,which it crosses,is to be inaugurated on Thursday. Chandigarh-based PKR Infra has the contract for the work. Work on a similar foot overbridge,being built on the road opposite the stadium,has now been stopped,said senior police officers.
Meanwhile,BJP Delhi chief Vijendra Gupta,who was present on the scene,said: “It’s a shame that such an incident has occurred just before the Games.”
WHAT WENT WRONG?
Most parts of the bridge are pre-fabricated with the path for pedestrians hung using special suspenders from a giant steel arch. The 13 pairs of suspenders were imported from a firm in Leichester in UK and had just arrived.
The pre-fabricated arch was assembled at the spot just a fortnight back,while the path was assembled two days back. From Sunday onwards the workers had started laying concrete on top of this steel slab. “The workers were to lay five inches of concrete. Half of the portion had already been covered and the remaining work was being done,” said Chief Engineer A K Sinha.
On Tuesday,a pin which connected the suspenders with the steel bar came off. “The 1-inch thick pin gave way. It did not break,” said Sinha. As soon as the pin fell,the pressure on the other suspenders increased and as a domino effect all of it collapsed within seconds. The labourers working on the bridge had no time to escape.Sobhana K
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