Report rules out damage to houses

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A committee appointed by the district administration has given a clean chit to the piling work connected to the multi-crore Vizhinjam International Seaport project. The committee was appointed to study the impact of the piling after local people alleged the vibrations had damaged nearly 150 houses in the vicinity.

The committee consisting of professors from the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, and the Barton Hill Engineering College, technical advisor of the Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd (VISL), representatives of the Fisheries Department, parish church, Revenue Department and the Adani Group submitted its report to District Collector K Vasuki on Thursday.

The report says the vibrations caused by the drilling of piles are within permissible limits. Measures were taken randomly at the houses in the neighbourhood as part of the study. The committee, however, has suggested that further drilling of test piles is advisable 50-60 metres seaward of the present location as a precautionary measure.

The latest study, in general, endorses the findings of an earlier one conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M), which clearly stated the piling work could scarcely have damaged the houses. The Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT-M, as part of an inspection commissioned by the Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd (VISL), had concluded that the cracks observed in the houses were caused by differential settlement - when a building’s foundation settles unequally - rather than the piling undertaken by the Adani Group.

Based on measurements taken at several houses in the neighbourhood, the IIT team had concluded the methodology adopted for the drilling was safe and would not damage the houses.

Ockhi hits work

Meanwhile, work on the project site was temporarily called off on account of cyclone Ockhi which lashed the coast on Thursday. The Adani group, the concessionaire for the project, had recently kicked off work on the 800-metre-long berths and casting of accropodes.

The Vizhinjam case
Local residents had alleged the vibrations due to the piling had damaged around 150 houses
A committe of experts found the vibarations caused were within permissible limits
They suggested, as a precautionary measure, further drilling of test piles is advisable 50 to 60 metres seaward of the present location