Major accident risk looms over Bhopal bypass:Crack in wall near railway bridge makes 300-meter stretch unsafe as soil keeps settling dangerously

The Railway Overbridge (ROB) on Bhopal Bypass also faces the risk of a major accident. Ten days ago, where a 100-meter road collapsed, forming a 20-feet deep pit, Bhaskar’s investigation has revealed that the entire 300-meter earth wall and bridge structure is dilapidated with cracks. Even after dumping more than one hundred and fifty dumpers of soil, neither the pit was filled nor the road was built; instead, both the retaining wall and the slope have broken. Officials of the Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation (MPRDC) themselves admit that now the entire section is dangerous. General Manager Sonal Sinha said that whatever work is done now, it will be done on the entire section. These 3 dangers… which could lead to a major accident First danger- Gap in bridge and wall
A railway bridge passes near Kalyanpur on the Bhopal bypass. This bridge was built by the railway, while on both sides, approximately 400-400 meter long reinforced earth walls were prepared by MPRDC in the year 2013. A 100-meter long section of this earth wall, towards Kalyanpur, has collapsed. Now, a gap has also appeared in the pillar connecting the bridge and the wall. The pillar has become tilted. In such a situation, this section could also collapse. Second danger – Retaining wall started breaking
The retaining wall on the side where the 100-meter section sank has also started breaking. This retaining wall is near the railway bridge. Third danger – Cracks in the slope, will sink due to heavy vehicles
The soil is settling in the rest of the slope near the sunken part. Due to this, cracks have appeared on the slope. Even if the dilapidated part is repaired, the rest of the retaining wall may sink in the future due to the pressure of heavy vehicles. Potholes on half of the 55 km road, GM said – they will be repaired
The Bhopal bypass was built on a BOT, i.e., Build Operate and Transfer model. Andhra Pradesh-based company Transstroy Private Limited built it in 2013. Its total length is about 55 kilometers. In return, the company received 305 crore rupees. However, a total of 650 crore rupees in toll collection has also been made in 12 years. According to experts, the company did not construct the Reinforced Earth Wall (RE Wall) according to technical standards. Due to this, water was accumulating below. Moreover, despite 5 to 6 years passing, maintenance was also not done. MPRDC officials say that the company did not complete the project on time as per the terms of the contract. Due to this, the contract was cancelled in 2020. Even before this, the company was blacklisted in 2017. Despite this, officials did not pay attention. The contract of the same company has been canceled by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). The Singarcholi rail overbridge project on the Bhopal-Byawara four-lane was worth Rs 776 crore. An agreement for this was signed in 2012. When the work was not completed on time, the state government wrote to the center recommending that the company be blacklisted. The Obedullaganj-Betul project started in 2011 with a cost of Rs 912 crore. The company completed only 1.34% of the work by August 2016. After this, NHAI initiated the process of canceling the contract on October 13, 2016. MPRDC has admitted – the quality of the soil was not good
After the road caved in, MPRDC officials had stated that the quality of the soil was not good. They also blamed the farmers entirely. Officials said that due to improper water drainage in the farmers’ fields, waterlogging occurred and the soil slipped. An inquiry committee of three senior technical officers was also formed in this matter. This team was supposed to submit its report within 7 days, but it had not been submitted till Friday. Company was blacklisted for 3 years
The project started in November 2010 and was completed in the year 2012-13 as per the contract. Its duration was set for 15 years as per the contract, but in 2020, the contract was canceled due to the investor not complying with the terms of the contract. Due to this, the company was blacklisted for three years.