PEDDAPALLI: Cement gutters and slabs of an under-construction bridge at Odedu in Muttaram mandal collapsed due to strong winds on Monday night. The construction of the bridge across the Manair river, between Odedu of Peddapalli district and Garmillapalli of Tekumatla mandal in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, started in 2016. There has been no construction activity for almost one and a half years.
Hyderabad-based contractor, Sai Constructions, bagged the project for about Rs 49 crore. According to villagers, there were no casualties as the bridge collapsed at night time.
Roads and Buildings executive engineer C Ramulu who visited the bridge on Tuesday told TNIE that the department terminated the services of the contractor and sent proposals to the government for completion of the remaining work. Upon approval, tenders will be invited to resume works. He said the suspension of work for a long duration led to the collapse of slabs and gutters.
Meanwhile, responding to the collapse of a portion of the bridge, R&B chief engineer J Mohan Naik, in a press release, said that an administrative sanction was given for Rs 51.6 crore for the construction of 19.6-km-long bridge across Manair river. As per the terms of the contract, Sai Constructions was to complete the works within 18 months from 17 May, 2016.
Several notices were served on the contractor to meet the deadline, but there was no response. Following this, the contract was cancelled as per APDSS rule 60 (a) and Rs 1,10,60,500 of EMD (earnest money deposit) was confiscated. Also, the government withheld the payment of Rs 65 lakh for the work completed by Sai Constructions.
The press release said that a fresh proposal for Rs 63 crore was sent to the state government to complete the bridge construction.
TPCC election coordination committee member Shashibushan Katche alleged that the bridge collapse indicated the poor quality of material used in construction of projects during the previous BRS government.
Even eight years after it was launched, not even 50 per cent of the bridge was completed, he said and added that an under-construction bridge across Mulavagu in Vemulawada collapsed in 2021 and piers of the Meddigadda barrage caved in.