Rainfall coupled with Metro project work spelled doom for Majerhat Bridge, feel experts

Kolkata: With a portion of Majerhat Bridge in South Kolkata caving in on Tuesday evening, multiple views have started cropping up as the reasons behind the incident that has so far claimed the life of a 27-year-old youth and left more than 20 injured.

Starting from the issues related to use of heavy machinery at the adjacent Metro project site coupled with heavy rainfall on Tuesday, to the present "health" of the bridge that is more than 40 years old, have all come up as probable reasons behind the incident.

After visiting the site, Firhad Hakim, the state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister, has stated that there is a need to find out the exact reason behind the incident. But he didn't rule out the possibility of heavy piling work that has been carried out for the adjacent Metro project as the reason that turned the bridge weaker.

He maintained that there is a need to carry out "shift piling" when there is such a structure close to the project area, or else the adjacent structure becomes weaker. "I don't know whether shift piling was done for the Metro project or not," he said.

Top brass of the state government has directed senior officials of state PWD to prepare data containing details of their findings in connection with the bridges in the city, mainly the old ones, including Majerhat Bridge. Help of

senior officials who were in charge of the same a few months ago, would be taken in this regard.

According to some policemen, people travelling over the bridge had complained of vibrations in recent times. It may be mentioned that the bridge acts as a crucial connector in the southern parts of the city. It bears heavy load round-the-clock as there is no restriction on movement of heavy vehicles on the bridge. Buses also ply throughout the day on the bridge, which is one of the busiest in terms of traffic volume in the city.

According to the experts, a regular monitoring of health of the bridge was essential. State PWD said there was regular monitoring of the health of the bridges and flyovers in the city and it was intensified after the Vivekananda Flyover collapsed in March 2016. Necessary repair work was also

carried out as and when required.

According to PWD sources, some maintenance work was carried out a few months ago and the proposal to carry out necessary work of the bridge was on the anvil. There was also discussion about the same in meetings of the state PWD held in recent times.

Sources said that "the PWD officials and engineers had discussed the matter, considering that the bridge needs some repair work. But it was not in a condition to collapse. So there could be some external factors that resulted in the incident."

Starting from engineers of the state PWD to scientists from the state forensic science laboratory, visited the spot to find out the exact reason behind the incident. The PWD officials inspected the site while the forensic experts collected samples.

Meanwhile, the chief project manager of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited has pointed out in a written statement that the collapse of the bridge took place due to a mid-span failure of the RCC girders which are very old and stretch for around 40 metres. They also claimed that the Metro project work had nothing to do with the incident on Tuesday.

The bridge was constructed in 1965 to connect the southern suburban fringes with the main part of the city. Most importantly, it was the main connector for Diamond Harbour Road, a major city thoroughfare that reaches upto South 24-Parganas.