BHUBANESWAR: Taking cognisance of the tragic mishap that claimed five lives and injured six others, the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCoRS) has sought a government report on the Haladiapadar road overbridge (ROB) on NH-16 in Odisha's Ganjam district.
The committee’s intervention has come despite the state government having already initiated a separate probe into the alleged faulty geometric design of the ROB.
According to official communication accessed by TNIE, the SC panel has asked chief secretary Anu Garg to submit a detailed report by March 5 describing the possible causes of the mishap and safety measures proposed to be taken to prevent such accidents in future.
Interim secretary of SCCoRS RK Jain has also urged the state government to take necessary steps to prevent occurrence of such mishaps due to poor enforcement of traffic laws and over speeding/wrong side driving and drunken driving.
The state government has, meanwhile, ordered an intensive inspection of the Haladiapadar ROB near Berhampur after a series of accidents, including the devastating crash over two weeks ago.
On January 31, five persons died when a speeding truck rammed into three motorcycles one after another before hitting the sidewall of the bridge.
Locals claim that more than 20 people have died in mishaps in the recent years and blame the bridge's flawed geometric configuration and problematic approach alignment for the frequent accidents.
Responding to mounting pressure, the works department has already formed a high-level technical team comprising the chief engineer (planning, investigation and projects), chief engineer (bridge design wing), and chief engineer (roads, design and quality) for a technical inspection involving R&B, railway and national highway authorities.
The team, which was scheduled to visit the site on February 16, will carry out the inspection of both the ROB and its approach roads to assess structural integrity, alignment, gradients and safety compliance later this week or early next week.
Earlier, the works department had also flagged serious concerns regarding possible flaws in geometric construction and overall design.
In view of these apprehensions, the department has asked the chief engineer (bridges) to furnish critical technical documents, including the approved alignment plan, general arrangement drawing of the ROB, drawings and detailed specifications before the technical inspection.
Superintending engineer (Ganjam-II) Sandipta Panigrahi said the inspection has been rescheduled due to unavoidable circumstances. "We have submitted all related documents for scrutiny.
However, the recent mishap occurred due to the wrong side and high speed driving by the truck driver. The speed of heavy vehicles has been limited to 20 kmph on the overbridge which is the busiest in the region. But it was suspected that the truck was speeding at 60 kmph,” he told TNIE.