3 Major blunders make Bhopal engineers famous:40 crore building forgets meeting hall, and 90 bridge fiasco proves money really does vanish

Bhopal Municipal Corporation has again wasted public money in the state capital. On Link Road No. 1, officials built an 8-storey building on 5 acres at a cost of around 40 crore rupees but forgot to include a meeting hall. Now, they have requested 0.25 acre of nearby land to build it, which will cost another 10 crore rupees. This is not the only case. Bhopal has earlier made headlines for the 90-degree angle Aishbagh Bridge and two metro stations that faced construction problems. Here are all these examples one by one. First, the latest case of the corporation headquarters
The new headquarters building of the Municipal Corporation has been built on Link Road Number-1 based on the Green Building concept. After this, offices at more than 10 locations will come under one roof. In the building being constructed for about 40 crore rupees, only solar panels are being installed, while gardening, phone, internet cables, and furniture work on some floors are underway. The building is special in many ways. Until the new hall is built, meetings will be held at ISBT Amidst all these good things, a big mistake also occurred. The council’s meeting hall has not been built in this building. Therefore, there is a plan to build a council hall by spending 10 crore rupees, but until it is built, council meetings will be held at ISBT. Upon investigation, it was found that when the building was constructed, the meeting hall was not included in it. Officials say that initially, the total cost of the building was 22 crore rupees, but later the cost kept increasing. Now it has reached 40 crore. Council meetings are held in the hall. Structural Engineer Suyash Kulshrestha says that whenever any construction work is undertaken, its design and several other parameters are monitored. After this, the tender process takes place. The Municipal Corporation forgot to construct a meeting hall in its own building. Now, a separate building will be constructed for the meeting hall, but the money will be from the public, which has been collected as tax. One Building, 3 Commissioners
The entire design of the building was made by Municipal Commissioner KVS Chaudhary Kolsani. More than half of the building’s work was completed in his presence, while the remaining work was done during Harendra Narayan’s tenure. Now, the finishing work is being done during Sanskriti Jain’s tenure. Front ruined over 40% electricity generation
A parking lot has been built right in front of the headquarters, within the premises, which has a shed. Solar panels have been installed on top of these sheds, so that the corporation can generate 40 percent of its own electricity, but they have been installed in such a way that the entire building is hidden, meaning the front of the building has changed. In this regard, Corporation Chairman Kishan Suryavanshi says that the design is not wrong. At that time, the financial situation was not good. However, after this, the estimated cost has increased. It is also true that there was no council hall in the old design. Currently, they are acquiring more land and building a council hall nearby, so that meetings can be held here. Objections have been raised regarding the parking space. Because of this, the front is covered. Solar panels can be installed on the roof. Sample-2: Ashbagh Bridge with 90-degree angle
The construction of the Ashbagh railway overbridge in Bhopal started in May 2022, which was supposed to be completed in 18 months, but it has not started yet. The bridge, built at a cost of 18 crore rupees, is 648 meters long and 8 meters wide. Out of this, 70 meters of the bridge belongs to the railway. Five months ago, this bridge garnered nationwide attention due to its 90-degree turn design and poor engineering. Even memes were made about it. PWD Minister Rakesh Singh had ordered an investigation by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). NHAI had prepared its report regarding the bridge, which suggested not driving vehicles at a speed exceeding 35-40 km per hour. If vehicles are driven at a higher speed than this, there is a risk of an accident. After the report, there was an agreement to rebuild the turning section, but this work has not started yet. Sample-3: Metro’s 2 Short Stations
Work is underway on the Metro’s Orange Line from AIIMS to Karond in Bhopal. There is a priority corridor from Subhash Nagar to AIIMS, which has a total of 8 stations. Among these, the issue of the low height of two stations – Sargam Talkies and Kendriya School – has been in the news. The case of Sargam Talkies came to light last year. After this, the road was excavated from below. However, the road has become so low that waterlogging situations will arise during the rainy season. This is the latest case of Kendriya School Metro Station. The height of the station from the road is only 5 meters. Because of this, even a dumper cannot pass. Due to this, half a meter more excavation is being done. However, later the Metro Corporation claimed that the work was done according to the set standards.