Malkangiri: Raising doubts over the construction quality of Gurupriya Bridge in Malkangiri district, Congress today alleged that the contractor-firm and the State government are working hand in glove due to which no action has been taken against anyone despite problems in construction work reported earlier.
PCC working president, Pradeep Majhi raised concerns over the quality of work of the bridge, which is awaiting inauguration on July 18.
Majhi stated despite the collapse of a slab, bend in pillar during the construction of the bridge and time overruns, the State government didn’t take any action against Royal Infrastructure, which had won the contract to execute the work and concerned government officials.
“During the construction work, one portion of a slab had collapsed, a pile also caved in and a bend developed in a pillar. As the government shut its eyes to the problems, there might be some collusion between the State government and the construction company Royal infrastructure. Quality of work is a big concern.”
On April 3, 2016, three piles of the 910-metre Gurupriya bridge had caved in. Similarly, a concrete span of pillar no 10 and 11 had collapsed on July 25, 2017. Besides, pile below the steel girder of pillar no 17 of the bridge is still bent, informed sources.
However, refuting the allegations made by Majhi, ruling party's Malkangiri MLA, Manas Madakami said “There is no truth in the allegations. When Majhi was an MP he could have done this work. It seems he (Majhi) is not thinking about the development of Malkangiri.”
Stating the government’s stand on the issue, Works Minister Prafulla Mallick said “We had asked the Central Road Research Institute to inspect the bridge work and it has submitted a report saying that the work is done perfectly. Besides, the institute has given the certificate that the bridge work was carried out with modern technology.”
Once the bridge is thrown open for public, it would be a lifeline for around 30,000 people of the cut-off areas of Chitrakonda, said reports.