‘Crack’ in flyover sparks panic in Bhubaneshwar
BHUBANESWAR: In yet another incident of a construction defect in flyovers in the Capital City, a portion of the fly-over near Hanspal marginally collapsed sparking panic in the area on Sunday. Nobody was injured in the incident. According to sources, a patrolling team of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) first detected a crater on the flyover and filled it up with sandbags.
At around 5 pm, a PCR van came across the affected spot and informed Mancheswar police station apprehending threat to the bridge. Commissionerate Police rushed to the spot and barricaded the crater area. Later, Bhubaneswar DCP Anup Sahoo and other police officers also visited to take stock.
There was palpable tension in the area as the locals staged a protest on the flyover against the negligence of the authorities. However, normalcy was restored on police intervention. A team of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) rushed to the spot to carry out the emergency operation if required.
Flyover ‘crack’sparks panic
ODRAF personnel set up an inflatable emergency lighting system to illuminate the area and avoid any untoward incident. NHAI officials, who inspected the spot, said it was a crack measuring 3 ft by 5 ft and 2 inch in depth. “The crack developed near the approach slab possibly due to overloading. However, the slab is in tact and the flyover is completely safe,” said NHAI Project Director Deba Prasad Sahoo.
Bridge approach slab is a concrete transitional roadway between the bridge deck and the asphalt pavement. It is designed to reduce the vehicle dynamic effects on the structure. “A portion of asphalt pavement near the end point of the approach slab was damaged. Approach slabs normally consist of concrete structural slabs supported at one end on the bridge abutment and at the other end on the embankment soil. The structure of the bridge has not been affected,” Sahoo said.
The damage will be repaired by Monday morning, the NHAI officials said. In one of the earlier two flyover incidents, a worker was crushed under a huge frame of iron bars which crumbled at Bomikhal in May 2018. Another labourer sustained serious injuries. Similarly, a long span of concrete slab fell off Bomikhal flyover killing a man and injuring 20 others in September, 2017.