Kolkata flyover collapse: Efforts on to dismantle two hanging decks

Kolkata: Four days after a portion of an under-construction flyover collapsed in the city, killing at least 26 people, operations to clear the area and dismantle two dangerously hanging decks are still underway. [caption id=“attachment_2706328” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the under-construction
Vivekananda flyover in Kolkata. PTI[/caption] Engineers are busy laying concrete blocks beneath the two hanging decks of the flyover to stop those from falling. “The decks weigh nearly over 300 tonnes. We are stacking concrete blocks underneath the decks to stabilise those before trying to dismantle them. If the blocks are unstable, the decks may slip off the pier causing another accident,” an engineer of Railway Vikas Nigam Ltd, assigned for the job, told PTI. The blocks have been brought to the spot from various construction sites in and around the city, he said. “Once we are certain that the metal girders and the decks have been provided with much support and will not slip off, we will chip off concrete from the decks,” the engineer said. “We need to make sure the decks are shifted to a position where they can be broken down on the road and the girders do not tilt towards the buildings on either sides,” he said, adding after taking off the concrete from the decks, the metal girders will be cut into small pieces and moved out. The engineer said stacking of the blocks began on Friday night after a blueprint for executing the job was finalised. On how long would it take to dismantle the hanging decks and remove the metal piers, the engineer said, “It may take a few weeks or a month. The area is congested and the buildings are very close to the flyover. We have to be very cautious and calculative while dealing with this.” On the reason behind the collapse, the engineer said, “It seems there was a problem at pier number 40. But we need to verify it further.” Meanwhile, a local court today remanded Tanmoy Sil, the arrested project manager of the construction firm IVRCL building the flyover, to police custody till 11 April. Three senior officials of the company — Assistant General Manager Mallikarjun Rao, Assistant Manager Debjyoti Manjumdar and Structure Manager Pradip Kumar Saha - were earlier arrested under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC. Police have registered a case against the construction firm and sealed its local office.