E-Paper
Setu ?fall? stirs up a hornet?s nest
LUCKNOWITES WOKE up to a manic Monday. The chaos on city roads was let loose since morning when the traffic moving towards Lucknow University Road from Clark?s Awadh via the Hanuman Setu was diverted after a portion of the bridge-road caved in following a leakage in the underneath water pipe-line.
LUCKNOWITES WOKE up to a manic Monday. The chaos on city roads was let loose since morning when the traffic moving towards Lucknow University Road from Clark’s Awadh via the Hanuman Setu was diverted after a portion of the bridge-road caved in following a leakage in the underneath water pipe-line.
For those at home, the immediate fallout of the incident was an acute water crisis in Trans-Gomti localities like New Hyderabad, Nishatganj, Daliganj and Babuganj etc. Taps went dry as the water supply to these regions was cut off from the Gaughat pumping station. Though Jal Sansthan pressed four mobile water tankers into service to meet the shortage, the same were not enough to cater to the needs of the residents. “From Tuesday, the number of water tankers is being doubled,” executive engineer BK Pandey of Jal Sansthan, adding that alternative measures to ensure water supply through tube-wells in these areas were also being initiated to tackle the problem.
Post-crisis blame game has already begun among Jal Nigam, Jal Sansthan and PWD officials as to who should be held responsible for the mishap. The incident could have been averted had Jal Nigam officials taken our warning, served to them 12 days earlier, on the issue seriously, maintain the mandarins at the PWD.
The department has taken the Construction and Design Services of Jal Nigam—the agency erecting the concrete archway on both ends of the bridge as part of the Gomti Beautification Plan— to task for not seeking its permission before undertaking the job. .
Amidst verbal duel, a formal inquiry as to what exactly caused the accident, however, is yet to take off. Work on the beautification project, foundation of which was laid by Urban Development Minister Mohd Azam Khan some three years back, was started by the C&DS in October this year. The water pipeline underneath the bridge developed a leak after the agency dug up a portion of the bridge to erect the pillars for the archway. The contractors informed the Jal Sansthan, which according to executive engineer RK Saluja, promptly repaired the leak on November 9 and informed the C&DS officials about the inherent danger to the water pipeline because of their construction work.
The construction agency, according to Sansthan officials, ignored their warning.
“In any case, these officers were too busy supervising construction of the Haj office to heed our advice,” said a Jal Sansthan official.
