BHUBANESHWAR: The state government has set a target to complete construction of the flyover at Bomikhal, which collapsed twice during the last nine months, by the next two months. Besides, the Lingaraj flyover will also be completed during the next two months.
Announcing the deadline to complete the two flyovers, works minister Prafulla Mallik said that the remaining construction work of the flyovers will be taken up by the state government by its own agencies. The Works department will take up the remaining work of the flyover at Bomikhal at an estimated cost of Rs 2 crore.
Expenditure for construction of the roof of the two spans of the flyover near Lingaraj temple will be completed at a cost of around Rs 50 to Rs 60 lakh.
The minister said that audit of quality of construction and safety of floyover will be conducted by a third party before its opening these to public. “If any technical defects are found, these will be rectified before opening these to be used by the people,” he said.
Mallik said construction work of flyovers at Jatni and Sambalpur has also been stopped after the mishap at Bomikhal. A decision on the flyovers including re-tendering will be taken after examining the
legal aspects, he said.
The three-member committee, which submitted its report to the Odisha government on Wednesday, has blamed the construction company Panda Infra Pvt Ltd for the mishap in which a portion of the under-construction flyover caved in on May 3 resulting in the death of a labourer and leaving another seriously injured.
The minister said the report has blamed the company for not employing skilled workers and not putting in place adequate safety measures.
However, while the construction company has been blacklisted and its owners have been put behind bars after the collapse of the flyovers, steps are yet to be taken against any officials responsible the accident.
The state government would issue show cause notice to the concerned government officials and engineers who were entrusted to oversee the construction work of the flyover, he said.
Meanwhile, the commissionerate police on Thursday arrested Prashant Padhi, one of the directors of the Panda Infra company, in connection with the Bomikhal flyover mishap. The commissionerate police had arrested the owner of the company, Pratap Kishore Panda on May 4, a day after the mishap.