BHUBANESWAR: Students of a local college had a close shave after the bus they were travelling in, got stuck after a portion of the road caved in near Power House Square here on Monday exposing the poor quality of work.As the vehicle could not move, locals rushed to the spot to evacuate the students of the private professional college from the bus.
The road not only caved in but also got flooded due to a leakage in one of the underground pipes. However, no one was injured in the incident.The traffic came to a grinding halt for several hours as the authorities shut down the road following the incident. Roads and Building (R&B) division officials rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.
“Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) officials were conducting some tests in the area to install underground wires. In the process, they struck a pipe laid by public health division,” R&B Executive Engineer PK Hota said.
The OPTCL officials decided to fill the 5 feet pit by pouring sand in it, but as water was gushing out of it, the plan did not materialise. R&B division officials suspect that more than one pipe might have been damaged during the work carried out by the OPTCL. Till late in the evening, the repair work was carried out by blocking one side of the road.