Rebuild Palarivattom overbridge instead of doing repair works on it since any bridge usually should survive more than 100 years, DMRC chief advisor E Sreedharan said Today.
“It is a wrong thing to retain the bridge with the help of petty maintenance works,” he told a media group in an interview.
Pillai said it is not good to re-join girders that have experienced shake and instead, new girders should be used. “What is now being done for the bridge is not a permanent solution? The very design of the bridge is wrong. It has to be doubted whether there was proper supervision by officials.
The bridge started shaking when vehicles passed over it since sufficient diaphragms were not used to join girders. In the Palarivattom bridge, sufficient middle frames were also not used,” he explained.
Pillai opined that it had to be examined whether works of bridges on National Highways should be taken up by the State government. “National Highway authorities have facilities for that. It is not right to take up overbridge work just to give away contracts. When the bridge flopped, the first persons to be approached were Engineering experts and not Vigilance officials. The bridge will not improve if Vigilance officials are brought in. The overbridges at Thirunavaya and Perinthalmanna also had the same fate. Even after that the anomaly is being repeated and this cannot be tolerated,” he added.
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