NHAI debars concessionaire, consultant from bidding for projects
Kozhikode: NHAI has debarred Hyderabad-based KNR Constructions, the concessionaire of the construction, from participating in ongoing and future bidding for projects after the collapse of embankment in a section of the under-construction NH-66 at Kooriyad in Malappuram.
The project consultant and independent engineer, Highway Engineering Consultants (HEC), has also been debarred from participating in ongoing/future bidding.
In a release, the Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) said a preliminary inquiry found that the "settlement of embankment and failure of RE wall in the NH-66 stretch" occurred due to negligence on the part of the concessionaire to confirm the ground conditions and improve ground bearing capacity prior to the commencement of work.
The RE wall on the Ramanattukara-Valanchery section of the highway failed on Monday, leading to traffic disruption and protests. The expert committee, in its initial assessment, suggested that the failure of the embankment was due to the inability of foundation soil to support high embankment loads. According to MoRTH, the project manager of the concessionaire, M Amarnath Reddy, and team leader of the consultant, Rajkumar, have been suspended from their duties.
The two-member expert team, comprising geotechnical experts Jimmy Thomas and Anil Dixit, visited the site on Wednesday. G V Rao, a retired professor of IIT-Delhi, has been supervising the committee tasked with analysing the reason for the incident and suggesting remedial measures.
MoRTH said the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) was taking steps to ensure necessary remedial measures, and the work would be executed based on measures suggested by the expert team at the risk and cost of the concessionaire.
The expert team will also suggest measures for other ongoing projects in Kerala and guidelines will be issued to prevent such incidents in other projects.
Union minister for transport and highways Nitin Gadkari had assured IUML MP E T Mohammed Basheer of stern action against those responsible.
Meanwhile, KNR Constructions executive director Jalandhar Reddy told a news channel that the decision to have an RE wall on the stretch could have been avoided.
"Something else should have been provided there," he said, adding that the matter was under examination.
"We should agree that there is some failure. We should not blame anyone for it because that happened due to some sort of insufficient things and unnoticed issues. Now we need to address it properly and see that things are done properly. It is given to experts and designers, and let them propose and we will do it," he said.
Basheer welcomed the Centre's swift action, but said steps should be taken to ensure that the remaining work was not delayed. "At the same time, proper inspections should be conducted in areas where complaints have been raised to ensure public safety," he said.
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