7 Engineers Suspended Over 'Faulty Design' Of Bridge In Madhya Pradesh: Here's What Went Wrong

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Madhya Pradesh government on Saturday suspended seven Public Work Department (PWD) engineers and initiated a departmental probe against a retired superintendent engineer over the 'faulty design' of a new rail over-bridge (ROB) in Bhopal with an unusual 90-degree turn.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced that he had taken cognisance of the serious negligence in the construction of Aishbagh ROB and ordered an inquiry.

“On the basis of the inquiry report, action has been taken against eight PWD engineers," Yadav said.

Fault in the bridge

The newly built ROB in the Aishbagh area of the city is being criticised and ridiculed by local residents and netizens for its design and wondering how vehicles would manage to take the sharp 90-degree turn.

Last week, the PWD formed a committee to find a solution in order to ensure safe movement of vehicles on the bridge.

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The project, costing around ₹18 crore was built to benefit three lakh people. It would have improved the connectivity between Mahamai Ka Bagh, Pushpa Nagar and the station area with New Bhopal, reported PTI.

Shortage of land caused the faulty design

After a negative turn in events, the officials in charge of the construction argued that they had no other option but to build the bridge this way given the shortage of land and presence of a metro rail station nearby.

If a little extra land is made available, the 90-degree sharp turn can be converted into a curve, the officials had said.

Who are the suspended engineers?

Seven engineers, including two chief engineers, were suspended with immediate effect while a departmental inquiry will be conducted against a retired superintendent engineer, he said.

The suspended engineers include:

• Sanjay Khande and G P Verma (Chief engineer)
• Javed Shakeel and Shabana Rajjaq (in-charge executive engineer)
• Ravi Shukla (in-charge sub-divisional officer)
• Umashankar Mishra (sub-engineer)
• Shanul Saxena (assistant engineer)

Additionally, a department inquiry will be conducted against the retired superintendent engineer M P Singh, said PWD additional chief secretary Neeraj Mandloi.

Construction and design firms blacklisted

Beyond the direct action against the PWD personnel, the government has also blacklisted the construction agency and design consultant.

To fix the situation, an additional committee has been formed to make necessary improvements in the rail over-bridge (ROB), Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said in a post on X.

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"The ROB will be inaugurated only after improvements are made," the chief minister added.

The government also blacklisted architect firm M/s Puneet Chaddha and design consultant M/s Dynamic Consultant, the news agency reported.

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