BENGALURU: 10 days after a pillar crashed on the Outer Ring Road, killing a mother and her toddler-son, the Civil Engineering Department of IISc, Bengaluru, submitted a 27-page report, stating there was a gap which lead to the crash on Saturday.
Assessing the damages, professor Chandra Kishen JM of the department, has not blamed any any contractor or engineer, but has suggested certain changes to be implemented by BMRCL while undertaking such projects involving tall structures. Kishen told TNSE that since the structure was to be taller than 12m, two rods had to be joined to make it 18m.
There was a gap and that lead to supporting cables and enforcements giving way. Since there is a flyover nearby, he said the Metro pillar had to be taller than that. He stated that it has been learnt that a similar method was planned near the Hebbal flyover, and a thorough procedure need to be followed to avoid recurrence of any incident.
“This could have been avoided if the statement of methodology had been formulated and clearly defined. This is important for projects which face strong winds and rainfall, and also for tall structures,” he said, ruling out any possibility of poor quality materials being used. He said the quality and testing certificates of materials used were assessed and a report has been included in the report.
Suggestions listed are that workers with at least 5-10 years of experience should be deployed for such projects, the JEs appointed should write safety exams governed by government agencies and departments, short term courses should be held for engineers, the agency undertaking the work should take lessons in the local language on safety measures for the workers and the engineers working should be recognised for their innovations on site.