No government agency in the city is ready to take the blame for the sinkhole that appeared on Brigade Road on Thursday, January 12, resulting in heavy traffic snarls in the Central Business District. A biker named Puneeth also suffered injuries.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had alleged that the ongoing tunnel works of Namma Metro was the reason for occurrence of the sinkhole.
The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) countered the allegation, and pointed fingers at the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) for water pipe leakage.
The officials of the BWSSB, who conducted an inspection of the area, maintained that no water pipe leakage was reported in the area and blamed tunnel works for the sinkhole.
Anjum Parwez, BMRCL MD, reiterated that tunnel work between M.G. Road and Rashtriya Military School metro stations was nowhere linked to the appearance of the sinkhole.
“Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) had crossed the stretch, where the sinkhole appeared, five days ago. It crossed the area 10.5 metres below the ground, and there was hard rock from 7.5 meters. We did not apply any pressure while crossing that particular area for drilling. When the sinkhole appeared, one could see stagnated water. Where water has come from, only the BWSSB can answer. We had asked them to investigate,” he said.
He said on Thursday evening, the sinkhole was filled with concrete mix and traffic was allowed from Friday afternoon.
On the other hand, Chief Engineer (East division) of the BWSSB L. Kumar Naik said, “As per our investigation, the BWSSB water pipeline is located 20 feet from the sinkhole, and we could not find any damage to the pipeline. We also noticed that in the surrounding area, water flow in the pipeline was normal and no disruptions were reported.”
“If there were continued leakages in the water pipeline, the concrete mixture poured inside the sinkhole could not have settled. After filling the sinkhole, the traffic was allowed in the area. When we checked with the engineers who had previously worked with the Namma Metro, they replied that the appearance of the sinkhole during the tunnel work had been reported earlier too in other parts of the city. After our inspection, we can clearly say there was no leakage in the water pipeline,” he said.
IIT, Hyderabad team visits metro pillar accident site
A team of two professors from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad visited the accident site on Friday where the reinforcement for an under-construction metro pillar crashed, killing a mother and her son near Nagawara recently. The team of two professors from Civil Engineering Department, IIT, Hyderabad will submit their expert opinion on the accident to Bengaluru City Police shortly. The team arrived in the city after being requested by the city police.
The city police, who had earlier requested the Indian Institute of Science to probe the accident and submit a report, put it on hold and roped in IIT, Hyderabad instead. “IISc is on various expert panels of BMRCL, which had already requested the Institute to submit a report. So we decided to rope in a neutral agency to provide us with the expert opinion,” a senior official said.
