The Hindu : Front Page : Cracks in new Muslim Jung bridge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 19, 2007
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Cracks in new Muslim Jung bridge

Five engineers suspended and action recommended against two more

Jinxed facility: The Muslim Jung bridge in the old city.-

HYDERABAD: Five engineers were placed under suspension and action was recommended against two more who got repatriated to their parent department by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), holding them responsible for cracks, which developed in the almost complete Muslim Jung bridge.

Commissioner and Special Officer C.V.S.K. Sarma issued the suspension orders on Monday and also appointed a four-member committee of experts to suggest ways and means to restore the bridge near the City College on a war footing.

Bridge inspected

The members are Mahesh Tandon, a consultant on flyovers, L&T Ramboll’s Venkataraman, JNTU’s Raman Rao and R&B’s SE Jamait Khan. Dr. Sarma, accompanied by Additional Commissioner (Planning & Projects) K. Dhananjaya Reddy and Chief Engineer Dhan Singh, inspected the bridge being constructed at a cost of Rs. 7 crore and was expected to be ready for inauguration in a few months. They noticed cracks in the cantilevers on identical locations indicating either design or detailing faults.

A furious Commissioner is also said to have sought explanations from the CE and the SE concerned for the lapse. Officials said that the “minor” cracks got exposed when the contractor, Narsing Rao, confessed a few days ago about his inability to complete the work faster because of the construction flaws.

The GHMC immediately contacted the expert civil engineering agency, Civil Aid, to conduct a preliminary enquiry.

The agency reported that the bridge was “restorable” if appropriate repairs are taken up. Very recently, the GHMC had taken up demolitions of some properties on either side of the bridge end and was successful in convincing patrons of the cow shelter to shift to an alternative spot.

The Muslim Jung bridge proposal goes back to at least a decade ago and the construction schedule for the six-lane facility was plagued by contractor troubles as the first one, NBCC, gave up in 2000 and later obstructions.

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