HYDERABAD: Days after a 70 meters flood lights tower collapsed at LB Stadium, killing one person and injuring another, the preliminary reports claim that the tragedy occurred due to the lack of maintenance.
As per the primary reports by the structural engineers of JNTU-H that were submitted to the sports authority of Telangana State (SATS), the poor maintenance of the structure led to the fall. Speaking to Express, the officials said that corrosion, due to exposure to various weather conditions, caused the structure to lose its strength.
“The bolts that tighten the steel frame got exposed to harsh weather. As there was no maintenance, the structure lost its strength. There was no timely checking done to the structure that could have strengthened it, preventing it from crashing,” said an official on the condition of anonymity. This leaves the structure vulnerable to gale storms that are likely to occur in the future.
“They (structural analysts) have asked us to give engineering drawings for which we are preparing,” said Dinakar Babu, managing director of SATS. It has been more than three days and the debris of the crash is yet to be cleared.The work which is slowly in progress is affecting many.
No structural analysis yet
With monsoon season ahead, the most worrying aspect is that the structural analysis is yet to be done for the other three floodlights in the stadium. The officials claim that the engineering drawings of the structure have also not been assessed in detail by the experts.