[bill1182]

There should be strong action against the Contractor. They use inferior quality material. Also the Municipal corporation should be held responsible. Here they consider human life as the cheapest thing around. Just to fill their coffers these beuraucrats and contractors use low quality material when constructing public utilities.

People should sue them for their actions.

[dadu]

It was being done by Gammon India, its a well known contractor and has built many a flyovers and NH across the country.

I think we should all wait before coming to a conclusion, although safety lapses on part of Gammon cannot be ruled out but from what I got to know, it was an under construction flyover and one of the pre-built Pier slipped onto the traffic below.

Originally Posted by bill1182

There should be strong action against the Contractor. They use inferior quality material. Also the Municipal corporation should be held responsible. Here they consider human life as the cheapest thing around. Just to fill their coffers these beuraucrats and contractors use low quality material when constructing public utilities.

People should sue them for their actions.

[spadival]

Least they could have done is cordon off the construction zone. Also, its believed that Gammon India sub-contracted part of the construction work to local contractors.. thats always a recipe for disaster !!

[theexister]

Most of them are speaking as though they know how this is being constructed.

It is done by bring in pre-cast blocks of the segments of the flyover & rested on hydraulic jacks & then concrete mix is poured for it to set. This is actually a safe way of constructing as the next segment is not assembled until the previous one is completely set.
The unfortunate thing is that, apparently, water works department had dug up an area just close to the point where the next set of pre-cast was to be set on hydraulic jacks. This inspite of Gammon warning them not to. The water works assured them of a good filling job. This was a few days back. The precast block was brought in yesterday & rested on the jacks after the usual run of rollers on the area to ensure the ground is firm. The jacks are in fact set on a raised concrete platform which itself is made much ahead of placing the jacks.
The severe rain had seeped into the ground & the bad filling job done by the water works came to the fore when the soil caved in 10 feet under the top soil. Whatever your foundation, if the soil so deep is going to move then the result is not very pleasing.

This from watching the news.

I must agree that Gammon should have atleast done a thorough test of the soil in case they had the slightest of doubts about the condition.

As far as traffic is concerned, it is typical Hyderabadi ignorance. There is a clear sign from Begumpet side & the Banjara Hills, requesting people to take the necklace road to avoid inconvenience but the thought of losing money in going a round about way (10-12 kms extra) is worth more than losing a life.

[srishiva]

The flyover was still being constructed.

The scaffolding which is used so that traffic goes beneath it while the construction continues above is the one that collapsed and brought down the constructed portion down with it.

[moralfibre]

See this:




Source: Rediff.com

[Venkatesh.C]

I wonder how scaffoldings have their foothold. Are they simply kept on the road/earth? Are there no other form of solid grounding provided to the scaffoldings? It is only natural for any earth to settle a bit/get washed away under such heavy rains. ANy construction company worth its salt would have planned for this.. I'm surprised that the accident can be due to such basic problem.

[hillram]

I agree with exister.Most of Hyderabdis ignore Necklace Rd as it would probably cost 4-5kms more to get on to the otherside of town.Necklace rd virtually remains empty in the morning and evening hours during working days and can take a considerable load of traffic,if at least commuters going from Secunderabd to Hyderabad can take this route.I personally have been using Necklace rd for the last 3 yrs and its wonderful to drive.

[bblost]

The contract was with Gammon India.

This is their web page
Gammon India Ltd.

click on Code of Conduct

I have followed the flyover construction from the time it started.
Never thought it could crash like this.
I have a feeling that the concrete blocks placed on the bottom, which support the pillars holding the flyover might have moved or broken.

Take a lot of weight, plave it on sticks.
The sticks need to be anchored really well. If the base shifts, the top will collapse like a deck of cards.

Off Topic: wonder what came from that hoarding. which collapsed a few months back.

[speedmiester]

Absolute carelessness from the contractor and the authorities. We may have to cross our fingers and drive on these flyovers.

May the souls of all unfortunate victims RIP.

[mtnrajdeep]

Has anyone observed how uneven the starting and ending parts of the same flyover project in hyderabad at the greenlands junction while going towards secunderabad from somajiguda is? The ramp first goes up a little, comes down a little again after which it goes up towards Begumpet Flyover....similar construction is seen at the end of the flyover!!! Had observed this just yesterday when I was passing by that area!

[rocksterraghu]

Originally Posted by gkrishn

Was the traffic moving under an "under-construction" flyover?

Yes, it does, all the time. I have seen a few cars getting dents right in front of me, since there is some or the other obstruction and someone bangs into the car as soon as it brakes (On the sides, from behind, yada yada yada). The situation is horrible there to drive.

Originally Posted by GTO

Whether rain or not, there is absolutely no excuse for such carelessness. Firstly, it should have been strong enough to withstand heavy rains. And if it wasnt or in the case of doubt, they should have been pro-active in informing the authorities and having that part of the road cordoned off.

GTO, I totally agree with you. It was my opinion that drawing conclusions at that point was a little premature about the cause of collapse (reason for that follows). About the remaining, even I had the same opinion that these fellows should be mercilessly punished.

Reason: It had been just 3 weeks since the bomb blasts here in Hyderabad and this is what I'd just read:

“There was a blast-like noise. Something like a plane crashing and the structure came down,” a dazed eye-witness, who lives in the area said.

from: The Hindu : Front Page : 12 feared dead as scaffolding of fly-over collapses in Hyderabad

I do hope they (contractor and authority in charge) are booked with murder. The lack of value for human life in our country never fails to amaze me.

In the meanwhile, nothing great has been done about it. There is a 5 member committee now to investigate the cause of the collapse. Why don't they put the contractor and people responsible behind bars first?

[normally_crazy]

Originally Posted by rocksterraghu

In the meanwhile, nothing great has been done about it. There is a 5 member committee now to investigate the cause of the collapse. Why don't they put the contractor and people responsible behind bars first?

Hand in glove maybe ? I am guessing here. besides the media hasn't exactly gone boombastic about this...but if it was Sunju Baba catching a cold - it would have been all over the news channels and newspapers.

[Sankar]

I read this in the paper in Malayala Manorama and The Hindu. In The Hindu the number of fatalities are given as 2 but in MM it's 20. This is one incident that shouldn't have happened. Very saddening. May their souls rest in peace.

As a side note especially for two wheeler riders & pedestrians; if it starts raining dont you ever take refuge under an under construction section of a fly over. Or even under an under construction building which has been supported by temporary scaffoldings. Be it in Bangalore, Trivandrum, Mumbai or anywhere else for that matter.

[Mayavi]

Originally Posted by GTO

Whether rain or not, there is absolutely no excuse for such carelessness. Firstly, it should have been strong enough to withstand heavy rains. And if it wasnt or in the case of doubt, they should have been pro-active in informing the authorities and having that part of the road cordoned off.

I do hope they (contractor and authority in charge) are booked with murder. The lack of value for human life in our country never fails to amaze me.

I would hold my judgment on whether it was shoddy construction or heavy rains. For all we know it could be an an entirely different reason. This is the first time they are building a pre-fabricated flyover in hyderabad and there could be a design deficiency rather than poor construction. Sections of the flyover are being built on the outskirts and transported to Punjagutta where they are being assembled. Although this is not a new thing in construction, there are not many projects that have been built this way in India.

Added later:
Just read this link raghu has posted

At least 12 persons were feared killed and scores injured as the scaffolding of a fly-over under construction caved in near Panjagutta cross roads on Sunday evening, even as heavy rain lashed the twin cities.

It is not the flyover itself, but the scaffolding built to support it during construction which came down bringing a part of flyover down along with it. AFAIk, and the pictures support this, scaffolding is usually a metal structure and there cannot be 'bad quality' of scaffolding material, just bad design. This also explains the loud blast like noise which is the structuring crumbling under stress, common before any structure comes down.