HIGH-LEVEL COMMITTEE TO PROBE COLLAPSING OF GILL FLYOVER'S ONE RETAINING WALL IN LUDHIANA

Ludhiana, May 14, 2018: Member of Parliament (MP) Ravneet Singh Bittu, Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu, MC Commissioner Jaskiran Singh along with a battery of senior MC officials on Monday visited Gill Flyover after one of its retaining walls collapsed on Sunday late night.

Shocked over the collapsing of wall within few years of its construction, MP said that it is serious incident and a high-level probe committee comprising an IAS and PCS officers, MC's Senior Engineer, Officials from GLADA and Public Works Department (Building and Road) will be formed which will give its detailed report over the reasons led to the collapse of the wall.

Bittu disclosed that he has talked with National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) New Delhi which maintains this flyover and NHAI has sent its experts to Ludhiana to take stock of the incident who will visit the spot and will also hold a meeting with local administration.

MP said that the construction company which has built this flyover has also rushed its representatives including Architects to the city who would also give their own report. He also asked Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu and ADCP (Traffic), SS Brar, to prepare alternative traffic route for the commuters till the repair work of flyover completes.

He told them that the commuters should not be suffered at any cost and assured that repair work will be completed soon.

He also targeted SAD-BJP government for its poor functioning and lack of supervision on the works and claimed those found guilty, action would be taken accordingly.

Meanwhile, Ar. Sanjay Goel, Director-Ludhiana Smart City Limited & Chairman-IIA Punjab Chapter, also visited the spot following which his observations are as under:
• Major error seems to be of workmanship/execution when it was constructed and maintenance thereafter.
• It seems that not only rats (mainly due to big garbage dump nearby) at lower level but water also may have entered from top in past years due to which earth filling has lost its compactness and retaining wall got disturbed not only on one side Yesterday but also getting slightly disturbed on the other side as noted Today.
• There seems to be no harm to foundations but truth will come after getting final report from reputed structural consultants only.
• About materials used and workmanship at the time of construction only those engineers who were supervising can comment better.
• It's very disturbing development for not only citizens of upcoming smart city Ludhiana but Punjab. Already old and famous Jagraon Bridge is closed for heavy vehicular movement for the last 2 years app. Ferozpur Road is also under construction as elevated road by NHAI is coming up. Newly built southern bye-pass along Sidhwan Canal is also a bad example of designing and execution. Pakhowal road is also very narrow and further it is more disturbing due to addition of permanent divider in it even beyond Phullanwal chowk upto Omaxe. It's very difficult to overtake a vehicle on Pakhowal road upto few kms.

“Why government is not taking advice from Town planners, Smart city consultants, Architects for all these issues”, asked Ar. Sanjay Goel, adding, “ Local Government under smart city mission must immediate form a committee or board of 20-30 local leading people from different spheres/associations/NGOs so as to travel fast towards Smart city mission”.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the office-bearers of Council of Engineers, visited the Gill Road Bridge to inspect the collapsed portion and to collect data and prepare report based on actual and factual position.

Er. Kapil Arora, President, Council of Engineers said that during inspection, it is clear from present situation that the retaining wall has not collapsed due to damage done by rats but it is due to poor workability at the time of construction of flyover. After inspecting carefully the entire span of retaining wall which has collapsed, it was found that the other end of this retaining wall has bulged out by 6” from centre and is on the verge of collapse which clearly indicate that the failure is due to increase in earth pressure from inside which this wall could not retain and collapsed. The poor workability of construction can still be seen from retaining side walls towards both road sides. The walls are out of plumb beyond permissible limits as the pre-cast RCC blocks are not properly locked with each other. Both the side retaining walls have bulged out significantly from many areas and in case, there is seepage of water from top road, there are high chances that the side retaining walls may also collapsed in similar manner.

Er. Kulwant Singh Rai, Sr. Vice President said that the second major factor of collapse is missing cap at top of this retaining wall. As seen at site, the top of this retaining wall was not fixed with any RCC Cap lock. Without this cap, the wall acted as Cantilever and with increase in earth-pressure, the wall has collapsed.

Er. Mohit Jain, Vice President said that since the inner wall has collapsed, it will not be an easy task to rectify the damage in short period of span. It may take around 70-75 days to properly repair the bridge. The department must ensure that the side retaining walls, in which signs of failure due to deflection as well as bulging can also be seen, must also be constructed again along with this retaining wall so that such type of mishap do not happen again. Anything done in a hurry to cover-up this collapse may lead to major disaster in future.

Er. Punjab Singh, Treasurer said that the role of department in ignoring such poor workability at the time of execution cannot be neglected. It is big question that how the department gave clearance to such poor quality of construction. The common man is already suffering due to one side of Jagraon Bridged closed for re-construction and now the other major road is also closed due to collapse of retaining wall. It has become nightmare for a common man to cross these areas to reach their destination. The department must act fast and the bridge must be repaired at war level.