Exclusive: Before Bhopal's 90-degree bridge became reality, design was tweaked thrice over PWD, Railways disagreements
Senior PWD members told The Indian Express that the investigation report is ready, with a senior official confirming, 'The design was changed thrice. This is part of our preliminary findings, apart from other issues which were flagged.'
On Saturday, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that 'based on the inquiry report, action has been taken against eight engineers of the PWD.'
'Seven engineers, including two chief engineers, have been suspended with immediate effect. A departmental inquiry will be conducted against a retired sub-engineer. Both the construction agency and the design consultant have been blacklisted for submitting faulty design of the ROB,' Yadav said.
Official records indicate that the first design was confirmed on July 7, 2018, when engineers from the Railways and Madhya Pradesh PWD jointly inspected the site. The team concluded that the proposed ROB would require a 45-degree skew to match the road alignment.
'The railway span shall be 45-degree skew to suit the alignment. The span will be constructed within Railway boundary. The approaches on both sides will be built by PWD,' reads the report filed by the then Executive Engineer (Bridge).
PWD internal records, however, noted: 'Since the entire construction was to take place on railway land, the Railway department expressed its disagreement. Consequently, the PWD halted the tender process at that time.'
By September 2020, a second design was executed, when the PWD and Railways carried out a joint inspection and prepared a new alignment, this time keeping in mind the upcoming Metro Rail line that would pass through the area.
'In this new alignment proposal, keeping in mind the Metro Rail alignment, and with mutual consent between the PWD and the Railway Department, a new General Arrangement Drawing (GAD) was prepared based on the construction of RCC circular piers,' the PWD note stated. The Metro Rail Corporation also issued another no-objection certificate.
However, in 2023, the PWD noted: 'Prior to the implementation of the project, discrepancies in the Railway Department's GAD were communicated to them through various letters.' The PWD also claimed in its internal records, 'The Railway department made no changes to its drawing and carried out the construction with the incorrect location and conditions. As a result, due to the Railway's error, the PWD's alignment began encroaching toward the Metro's alignment.'
Following this, a third design change was implemented, when the PWD 'prepared a revised GAD in which an additional pier was constructed behind Railway Pier, and the PWD slab was supported on this additional pier and connected to the Railway slab.'
According to the revised GAD, the alignment of the Metro Rail 'will remain as before, and all three executing agencies, namely the PWD, Metro Rail Project, and Railways, will be able to carry out their construction work within their previously approved financial limits and on the previously agreed alignments.'
The Railway department has, on the other hand, alleged that even before the PWD flagged the issues, Railways had sent a letter on April 4, 2024, apprising the department portions of the bridge constructed by the PWD and Railways are 'meeting almost at right angle, which is neither fulfilling the functional requirement nor safe for road users.'
The 648-metre bridge in the Aishbagh area, which cost Rs 18 crore to build, was meant to eliminate long delays at railway crossings and shorten the commute for nearly three lakh people daily.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
After Mamata posts ‘torture' of Malda woman by cops, Delhi Police questions her, says no proof of her claims
Hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee posted a video of a woman and her one-year-old child on her X handle, alleging that police beat up a migrant family from Malda's Chanchal area in BJP-ruled Delhi, police rejected the charge, claiming it was a concocted story 'that fell apart' after the woman was questioned. The family of Sajnur Bibi, the woman said to be in the video, however, stuck with their allegations against the Delhi Police. Bibi had claimed that policemen in plainclothes had come to her house in East Delhi's Geeta Colony at 11 am on July 26 (Saturday) and took her into custody despite taking her documents the day before. While in custody, she claimed, she and her one-and-a-half year-old son were beaten and she was forced to pay Rs 25,000. According to Bibi, the policemen took her to a park behind K R Mangalam Hospital where they subjected her to physical assault and extortion. Speaking to The Indian Express, Bibi's husband Mukhtar Khan said: 'I had gone out for work and my wife was cooking lunch (on Saturday). When I returned, she was nowhere to be seen. When I called her, she told me she had gone out to buy vegetables… After some time, I got a call from an unknown number… My wife had called me from someone else's phone and told me to come and get her because she had lost her way. When I went to pick her up from the park, I saw my child had bruises on his ear and forehead… She told me later what had happened,' said Khan. According to Khan, the police had come to their house a day before as well to verify whether the family were illegal immigrants. 'They took one look at our Aadhaar cards and told us that we're Bangladeshi… After that we kept getting calls from unknown numbers telling us that if we try to run away, we will be in trouble,' alleged Khan. Khan claimed that the calls frightened them, prompting him to make arrangements to leave for home in Malda. However, before they could leave for the railway station on Sunday, the police rounded them up and brought them to Madhu Vihar police station for questioning. The Delhi Police, however, said that the family was called for questioning on Sunday after the West Bengal chief minister posted a video on her X handle. 'We brought them in after we saw the social media post by the West Bengal chief minister. We had to verify their version of events since no one in the police station was aware of any verification drive being conducted in the area,' a Delhi Police officer said. 'We examined the CCTV footage along the entire route that the woman (Sajnur Bibi) said she was taken by the policemen. In the footage, she can be seen walking alone with her children… In fact, we even lined up all the police personnel in front of her and asked her to identify to us who had detained her and hit her child, but we got no answers,' DCP (East) Abhishek Dhania told The Indian Express. 'When we questioned both the husband and wife, they told us that she had actually lost her way back home. They later concocted the story after the husband's uncle – who is a political worker in TMC – told them to,' added the DCP. According to the police, the couple's Call Detail Record (CDR), too, didn't reveal any threats or extortion calls being made by anyone. Meanwhile, the chairman of West Bengal Migrant Labourer Welfare Board, Samirul Islam, claimed that the Delhi Police detained the family again to pressure them. 'This is nothing less than terror on migrants from West Bengal. Now, a child is also not spared. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee highlighted the plight of the mother and child detained by Delhi Police. Hours later, the family was again picked up by Delhi Police. They must be forcing them to deny the incident. This cannot be tolerated,' said Islam, a Rajya Sabha member of the TMC. According to relatives, Sajnur Bibi is a mother of three children and works as a caretaker in a public toilet along with her husband in the Pandavnagar area of Delhi. According to the woman's father -in-law, the family has been staying in Delhi for the past six years and hails from Malda. Meanwhile, relatives of the family in Chanchal, in West Bengal's Malda district, lodged a complaint with the local police on Sunday night. Ravik Bhattacharya is the Chief of Bureau of The Indian Express, Kolkata. Over 20 years of experience in the media industry and covered politics, crime, major incidents and issues, apart from investigative stories in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Andaman Nicobar islands. Ravik won the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award in 2007 for political reporting. Ravik holds a bachelor degree with English Hons from Scottish Church College under Calcutta University and a PG diploma in mass communication from Jadavpur University. Ravik started his career with The Asian Age and then moved to The Statesman, The Telegraph and Hindustan Times. ... Read More
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
ACB To Probe ‘Irregularities' In Barapullah Elevated Road Work
New Delhi: The anti-corruption branch will investigate a case of "irregularities" in the construction of the Barapullah elevated road and the payment of Rs 175 crore in arbitration to its contractor, govt said in a statement on Monday. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The decision was taken by chief minister Rekha Gupta on Monday while chairing a meeting of the expenditure finance committee to review the construction of the road between Sarai Kale Khan and Mayur Vihar under phase-III expansion of the project. PWD minister Parvesh Verma and other senior officials were also present. Delhi govt, in its statement, said that concerns were raised over the public works department's (PWD) "negligence" and the prolonged delays in the project. "The chief minister instructed senior officials to ensure its timely completion, noting that the payment was necessitated because the previous govt prevented the company from executing the work," the statement read. Officials, privy to the discussion in the meeting, said Gupta called the project "yet another example of corruption and negligence under the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) govt". Responding to the allegations, AAP said the investigations launched by BJP govt were an "excuse" to avoid real work. While the elevated road was scheduled for completion in Oct 2017, it was repeatedly delayed and eventually went into arbitration. "The ruling favoured the contractor with an award of Rs 120 crore. When the payment was withheld, the company approached the high court, which, in May 2023, ordered the PWD to pay Rs 175 crore, including interest and GST. The sum was subsequently paid during the tenure of then PWD minister Atishi," govt said in the statement. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Officials said the chief minister slammed the previous AAP govt for neither filing a review petition nor acting against the officers responsible for the arbitration award, adding that the payout hampered other PWD schemes. "She also disclosed that the contractor initially offered to settle the dispute for Rs 35 crore, but the proposal was ignored, resulting in the escalation of the matter to the high court," the statement read. The minister also noted the possibility of PWD officials being complicit in the irregularities and said their actions would also be scrutinised under the vigilance inquiry. She, however, added that the investigation would not hinder the project's progress and reiterated govt's commitment to completing it within the stipulated time frame. While the project was planned in 2011, the tender was floated in 2014. The 3.5 km-long elevated road was initially held due to the delays in acquiring land parcels along the Yamuna floodplain, which were under private control, and later for the want of permission to fell over 300 trees. Officials informed the chief minister that the project would gain pace soon, as the permission for the removal of trees was expected shortly. "The chief minister stressed that no further delays would be tolerated and assured adequate budgetary support to complete the project, which is expected to significantly ease traffic between south and east Delhi," govt statement read. Meanwhile, AAP in a statement said the BJP's "four-engine govt" failed to take a single meaningful step to address the concerns of ordinary citizens, despite being more than five months in power, and focused its energies on "delay, deflection, and distraction" by "flooding" the system with "raids, investigations, and baseless cases". "Jail whoever you want, file as many cases as you like — nothing will come of it, because there's nothing to find," AAP said, adding, "These investigations are not instruments of governance — they're excuses to avoid real work."
NDTV
4 hours ago
- NDTV
Probe Ordered Into Key Delhi Flyover Project, Rekha Gupta Points Fingers At AAP
Delhi's Barapullah Elevated Road Phase-III project, long overdue and over budget, is back in the spotlight. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Monday ordered a probe by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) into a Rs 175 crore payout made to the project's contractor, blaming it on "negligence and mismanagement" by the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. The announcement came during a high-level review meeting of the Expenditure Finance Committee at the Delhi Secretariat. CM Gupta pulled up senior officials over the years-long delay and the legal wrangling that forced the government to clear the hefty payment. "This isn't just a case of delay, it's a case of public money being wasted due to inaction. We will hold those responsible to account," the Chief Minister said at the meeting. What Went Wrong The Phase-III corridor was sanctioned in 2011 and construction began in 2015, with a 30-month deadline. The 6.2-kilometre stretch is intended to connect Sarai Kale Khan to Mayur Vihar Phase-III and decongest key traffic corridors between South and East Delhi. But the project soon ran into roadblocks. Work was halted midway, leading to arbitration. In 2023, the Delhi High Court directed the government to pay Rs 175 crore to the contractor, an amount that included interest and GST, after the Public Works Department (PWD) failed to act on earlier offers of settlement. Ms Gupta alleged that the contractor had proposed a settlement of Rs 35 crore, which the AAP government "ignored entirely." "That decision, or the lack of one, cost the city an additional Rs 140 crore. It's unacceptable," she said. The payout was eventually cleared under the tenure of then-PWD Minister Atishi. PWD Also Under Watch CM Gupta didn't limit the blame to political leadership. She said senior officials in the PWD could also come under scrutiny. "There may have been complicity within the department. The ACB will investigate all angles, including the role of officers who failed to act," she said. Despite the ongoing probe, the government has assured that construction will continue. "No more delays will be tolerated. The remaining work must be completed within the revised timeline," CM Gupta told officials. Current Status: 87% Work Done, Final Clearances Pending As per project officials, 87% of the construction is complete. The remaining work is pending environmental clearance for tree removal along the route - a process that is reportedly nearing approval. Once granted, construction is expected to pick up pace. Meanwhile, costs continue to rise. Originally budgeted at Rs 1,260 crore, the project is now estimated at Rs 1,330 crore. Of the Rs 150 crore allocated for this financial year, Rs 86.43 crore has already been spent by June. Project Timeline: 2011: Project approved 2015: Construction begins 2017: Deadline missed 2023: High Court orders ₹175 crore payment 2025: Project 87% complete; ACB probe launched Launched as a much-needed traffic solution, the Barapullah Phase-III project has instead become a cautionary tale of delay, dispute, and administrative failure. Now, with most of the work nearly done and corruption charges under investigation, the project finds itself at a crossroads. Will the BJP-led Delhi government clean up the mess and finally deliver on the promise, or will this become yet another incomplete file in the city's long backlog of unfinished infrastructure?
