The government has ordered a VACB inquiry into the alleged flaws in the construction of the ₹47.70-crore flyover on the NH bypass at Palarivattom by the Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK), during the previous UDF regime.
Minister for Public Works G. Sudhakaran said on Friday that a preliminary study by the PWD and a detailed study by an IIT-Chennai team had found serious flaws in the work executed by the contracting firm RDS Projects Ltd. of Delhi, he added.
The structure had developed potholes and cracks within months of its inauguration in October 2016.
The flyover’s design (by KITCO, the project consultant) itself was problematic, while its construction and supervision (both by RBDCK) were shabby. A technical enquiry by the PWD found several faults in the flyover, following which a probe by a team (of structural engineering experts) from IIT-Chennai found more serious defects, Mr. Sudhakaran said.
Official sources said a VACB probe would shed light on apathy and corruption, if any, by individual(s) or agency(s), which resulted in the flyover on the city’s busy Edapally-Aroor NH Bypass being shut down for a month for repair work.
The IIT team had shed light on the possible reasons for potholes, bumpy ride over expansion joints, and cracks in six pier caps of the four-lane flyover. It pointed out how reliance on ‘mastic board’ instead of ‘mastic asphalt’ to bind the tarred surface and the concrete surface led to the tarred portion giving away. They also spoke of inferior quality concreting, mainly inadequate usage of cement and steel in the construction of the structure. This could be the reason for the cracks.
It was during a routine inspection by a mobile team of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in October 2018 that cracks were detected on the flyover’s pier caps.
Meanwhile, traffic chaos continued at the Palarivattom Bypass Junction as vehicles bound for the flyover were re-routed through the service roads for the second day in succession. Policemen had a tough time streamlining vehicle flow, especially at U-turns through which vehicles in the Palarivattom-Kakkanad and return direction were being re-routed.
The traffic police have sought the cooperation of vehicle owners to prevent parking on service roads on either side of the NH bypass.
With the tarred surface of the flyover being scooped out, work is on to lay mastic asphalt and bituminous concrete layer. This will be followed by replacement of all expansion joints.
