Kochi: The state government has constituted an expert panel consisting of three chief engineers to oversee the restoration work of the Palarivattom flyover.
“The panel will provide technical aid in carrying out the repair as suggested by a team of IIT Chennai. They will ensure that the restoration work is carried out scientifically,” said PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran.
He said the government was planning to slap non-bailable charges on the officials found responsible for the irregularities in the construction of bridges and other key public infrastructure. “We’re in consultation with the law department for the same,” he said.
A detailed inspection by an expert IIT Chennai team on Sunday found major construction discrepancies, including cracks on girders and piers of the flyover. The repair to be monitored by the expert team will be carried out in two phases and will take a minimum of four months.
Meanwhile, the minister charged the previous UDF government with taking no measures to monitor the construction which “resulted in the current mess.”
“No review was done during the construction phase of the bridge. Had they done it, the technical faults could have been corrected during the construction stage itself. After this government came to power, we made it a norm to review the construction of all infrastructure projects once in two months,” he said in a Facebook post.
Mr Sudhakaran also charged the previous regime with flouting the norms while allocating funds for the project. “The fund was provided through the Road Fund Board under the PWD. However, it was reallocated to the RBDCK, also coming under the PWD. This is against laid-down norms,” he said.
