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Rats! Rodents bring down flyover wall on Ludhiana’s Gill Road
Following the incident, Ludhiana mayor Balkar Sandhu, municipal corporation officials and police reached the spot and movement of traffic on the flyover was stopped.
A major tragedy was averted on Sunday night after the retaining wall of Gill Road flyover (part of link road) collapsed after rodents excavated soil from the earthfilling area of the retaining wall. While the traffic was moving on the flyover when the incident took place at around 10.45pm, no casualty was reported.
Superintending engineer of the municipal corporation, Dharam Singh, who reached the spot on Sunday night, said, “Rats excavated the sand due to which the incident took place.”
Residents claimed that they had been complaining about rats excavating earthfilling area for last over one month, but the authorities ignored the problem. They said that the garbage dump under the flyover was an open invitation for rodents. “We have been complaining regarding the garbage dump from 2012, but the authorities have failed to take any action,” said Surinder Singh, one of the residents.
‘REPORT IN FORTNIGHT’
Ludhiana deputy commissioner Pradeep Aggarwal on Monday convened a meeting and marked an inquiry into the incident. A committee, headed by additional deputy commissioner Shena Aggarwal, comprises three executive engineers of the MC, PWD and GLADA. The committee will to submit a report in 15 days, said the DC.
Mayor Balkar Sandhu, municipal corporation officials and police reached the spot and movement of traffic on the flyover was stopped till repair is complete which is likely to take a month, said MC commissioner Jaskiran Singh.
Member of Parliament Ravneet Singh Bittu and mayor Balkar Sandhu on Monday said only rodents cannot be a reason behind the incident and a complete inquiry would be conducted regarding the project.
“Action will be taken against officials if any discrepancy is found,” Bittu said.
Traffic came to a standstill at many parts of the city, including Jagraon bridge, Samrala chowk, Partap chowk, Gill Road. The movement of traffic was earlier hit due to closure of the Jagraon bridge and problem further increased after the retaining wall of Gill Road flyover collapsed.
