CHENNAI: The busy stretch of Poonamallee High Road outside the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MGR Central Railway Station caved in on the early hours of Monday causing severe traffic jams and vehicle diversions. The stretch which caved in was already covered by steel set as Chennai Metro Rail was constructing a subway underneath which connects the Central Station and Central Metro.
CMRL officials said that incident happened at mid-night 1 am on Monday when a heavy-loaded goods container truck moved from Chennai port trust towards Central station. "The truck was supposed to weight only 49 ton but it was loaded with 90 ton weight. As a result, the front part of the truck crossed the stretch while the loaded back-part caused the cave in," an official said.
The official added that luckily none of the workers were present at that time in the subway and immediately after the incident came to light, the truck was removed.
Officials said that the police have booked the truck driver for carrying weight in the truck above permitted levels. CMRL officials said that work to restore the cave in was happening in a fast-paced manner and traffic would be restored by 2 pm.
Meanwhile, the traffic police have booked the truck driver under IPC sections pertaining to negligent driving and overloading under Motor Vehicle Act. The driver was booked and released on station bail. The truck was carrying over 90 tonnes of iron sheets to a private factory.
Additional Commissioner (Traffic) Dr N Kannan said that the truck was coming from Port Trust towards Poonamallee. Usually the trucks carrying heavy load are to require special permission to ply on city. This truck did not get any permission. "The confusion happened because the trucks usually unload at Port and return empty when they cross Central Railway station. But this truck had loaded up when entering the city," he said.
Had they got prior permission the traffic police would have suggested a different route. Since the truck was covered the police on duty thought it was an empty one, said the senior police officer. After the truck caved inside the road the fire and rescue personnel were informed and the truck was pulled out.
"The reconstruction work should be over by evening. We have diverted the traffic for today. We have also requested the contractors to install stronger rods to bear heavy load," said Kannan adding that the traffic will resume around Central Railway station by evening.