DC IMPACT: Officials Take Up Repair Works of Damaged Road on Cable-Stayed Bridge

KARIMNAGAR: The Roads and Buildings department took up repair works on the damaged portions of the newly laid BT road on the cable-stayed bridge in Karimnagar city on Thursday.

This, after a news in Deccan Chronicle on Wednesday titled ‘Carriageway, approach road of the new cable bridge damaged.’ Notably, IT minister KT Rama Rao and BC welfare minister Gangula Kamalakar had jointly inaugurated the cable-stayed bridge at a huge event in June last. It was constructed at acost of Rs 224 crore.

Following the DC report, orders were issued by KTR for urgent repair of the damaged portion on a temporary basis.

During the inauguration, the government had organised cultural activities every weekend on the bridge along with arrangements for illumination and cracker shows. Within three months of this, the BT road on the cable-stayed bridge was scandalously damaged. Construction flaws have been cited as the reason and the government was embarrassed.

The damage caused a lot of inconvenience to the people passing through the bridge, mainly motorists, and several accidents took place. Officials, thereon, placed huge barricades and closed the road, halting the vehicular movement on the affected lane of the bridge.

In the past also, cracks had developed on the protection wall of the cable-stayed bridge and the approach road sank.

The state government received flak not only from the opposition parties but also from the people, saying public money was being squandered due to poor quality construction works.

Officials on Thursday initiated the repair works by removing the damaged BT road measuring 20 metres and laid a new road to avoid any inconvenience to vehicular movement on the cable-stayed bridge.

Meanwhile, in the morning, leaders of the CPI, K. Narayana and Venkat Reddy took a look at the damaged road. They said all the project works in Telangana were being taken up without any concern for standards.

“These are done in a casual manner so as to enable contractors and BRS party leaders to make money. The state government is handing over works to contractors who promise big commissions to the BRS leaders,” the CPI leader alleged.