KMDA will soon come out with list of engineers tasked to maintain bridges: Hakim

Kolkata: State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim said on Sunday that the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) will come out with a list of engineers who will be responsible for the maintenance of all bridges under KMDA.

"An engineer each will be in charge of the maintenance of the bridges of the city that are maintained by KMDA. Their names and phone numbers will hopefully be circulated among media persons by Tuesday. We are vigilant in the upkeep of all the bridges and this is a significant step in this direction," Hakim said.

Reacting to the subsidence of a small portion of Karunamoyee Bridge on Saturday afternoon, the minister, who paid a visit to the bridge in the night, assured the citizens that there is nothing to panic about and said that the repair work will be taken up soon. "Our engineers will soon examine the bridge and will do necessary repair work," Hakim said.

A team of engineers from the advisory panel that was constituted after the caving-in of Majerhat bridge on September 4, examined the Karunamoyee bridge on Sunday morning.

"We will cut open the bitumen layer and will do maintenance work of the expansion joint, preferably by Monday. Then we will put a strong plate and a layer of coal mix on the top surface to facilitate movement of vehicles," a KMDA engineer said.

It may be mentioned that movement of heavy vehicles on the bridge has already been restricted from Saturday evening. A plate was put upon the subsided portion and the vehicle service was restored within a few hours after the incident. Immediately after the incident, a guard rail was placed as cops regulated the vehicular movement.

The Karunamoyee bridge that connects Behala with Tollygunge, is already in the list of bridges under KMDA that require repair work.