KOCHI: The Muvattupuzha Vigilance Court ordered a Quick Verification (QV) on Wednesday into irregularities related to the construction of the Willingdon Island-Kannenghat bridge by PWD. The bridge was opened to the public in September last year.
The Vigilance Court ordered Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) Ernakulam Unit DySP to conduct the QV following a complaint filed by Kalamassery native Girish Babu. The court has directed the DySP to file a report before June 7.
The petitioner alleged poor quality concrete mix was used for piling and for constructing the deck slab. This was revealed during an inspection carried out by the PWD quality controller. A report in this regard was handed over to PWD's bridge construction wing executive engineer. However, the report was scuttled after the contractor and PWD officers colluded and managed a favourable report from a private agency. Based on the report, the contractor was permitted to continue with the construction work.
The bridge was inaugurated on September 25, 2017. However, till now, the construction of its approach road has not been completed. To ease traffic congestion at Thoppumpady bridge, and opening a new path for vehicles towards Alappuzha, Rs 74 crore was sanctioned for the the bridge.
The respondents listed in the petition are two chief engineers, two superintendent engineers, executive engineer, assistant executive engineer and assistant engineer of PWD, directors of SEGURO-INKEL which constructed the bridge, Kerala State Construction Corporation managing director, general manager and regional manager.