The fact that the report was tabled in August 2022 but not made public, was indicator of the truth to come. However, with the facts out on Monday, details have damned state authorities for the collapse of the Mumatpura flyover deck near South Bopal on SP Ring Road in December 2021. The report attributes the flaw to “cumulative effects of poor concrete, negligence in quality assurance and quality and workmanship.” Luckily, no fatality was recorded in the incident.
According to highly placed sources, the report was submitted in August 2022, but the state government did not make it public for the last six months. The report details about the poor quality of construction material used by the contractor and the role of the project management consultant (PMC) which led to the collapse of the flyover slab.
Insiders shared that the report states: “based on the observations, looking at the failure pattern and test results, it is concluded that the obligatory span girder between pier PS1-PB1 collapsed due to weak concrete strength. Collected cement and sand samples from ready mix concrete plants are not meeting prescribed standards.”
The Mumatpura flyover work was awarded by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) to Ranjit Buildcon, which began construction on March 5, 2019.
The company missed the first deadline of September 2021. AUDA, however, did not take any action against the company. On December 21, 2021, the deck of the flyover collapsed while pre-stress tests were being carried out. The state government appointed a high-level committee led by housing secretary Rakesh Shankar, chief engineer of the Gujarat Housing Board N K Patel, superintendent engineer of the Gujarat roads and buildings department government of Gujarat N K Patel, GERI joint director (roads) N I Patel, and assistant director of FSL T C Joshi.
However, what did raise eyebrows is that despite floating tenders twice to re-build the deck after the collapse, AUDA once again awarded the contract to Ranjit Buildcon, two months ago.
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