A part of an elevated road being constructed on Gurugram’s Sohna Road collapsed on Saturday night around 10.15 pm.
The broken span is part of the 6km elevated road being built along Sohna Road as part of the Gurugram-Sohna-Alwar highway project, starting from Rajiv Chowk.
According to police, two persons were injured when the huge concrete slab of the under-construction flyover fell on Sohna road. The injured, said to be laborers, were hospitalized immediately. Later the area was cordoned off.
Officials from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Sunday visited the incident spot and started investigation. An Official with the authority said we are still trying to determine the reason for the collapse.
Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said a team of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the sub-divisional magistrate of the area and a civil defence team were at the site. “Slab of elevated corridor Sohna rd (road) Gurugram collapsed. There have been 2 injuries and both have been admitted and are undergoing treatment,” he said in a tweet.
However, serious questions have been raised on the credibility of the district administration and the state Government as well as the flyover maker Company which is behind the construction.
“We had cordoned off the entire area while work to clear the debris began. The flyover is being constructed in the middle of the road, so it did not affect traffic movement on either side. State Disaster Response Force and civil defence teams were deployed at the spot,” said Nitika Gahlaut, DCP (headquarter).
Police said two workers injured were engaged in welding work on the adjacent pier and fell into the broken portion. Fortunately, there was no one under the affected area.
Meanwhile, an eye witness told the police that they heard a loud sound when the concrete slab fell on the road.
They said a major accident was averted as there were not too many people at the site when the incident occurred.
Preliminary reports suggested that a few girders installed between two pillars fell all of a sudden, leading to the incident, said a district administration officer requesting anonymity.
“The span of that section of the road had already been laid and completed. We will have to investigate this to find out why it happened. This will be cleared after a detail investigation,” said an official from NHAI.
An official of Oriental Structural Engineers Pvt Ltd, the company in charge of construction, said the span had been attached to pillar numbers 11 and 12 and was cast around 2 weeks ago. “We received a message around 10.25 pm about the incident. However, no lives were lost. Our team have been on the spot to assess the structural damage, said the official.
The estimated cost of the project is around 1,300 crore, the elevated road is one of the biggest infrastructure projects currently underway in the city. Once complete, it will reduce the Gurugram-Alwar drive to under two hours.
Heavy rain have been lashing the Gurugram district roads and many areas of the city have reported waterlogging. The roads turned into small rivers and parks resemble swimming pools.
