Metro reinforcement bar bends due to loose ropes

PUNE: A reinforcement bar being used to build the pier of Metro rail viaduct along the Mutha riverbed bent on Monday evening near the Lakdi bridge, where MahaMetro Rail Corporation has initiated the construction of piers.
MahaMetro officials said that no injuries or casualties were reported and that restoration work was initiated immediately.

They said that the reinforcement bar had bent because the ropes tied to the structure had loosened.

A notice will be issued to the contractor to ensure that necessary safety provisions are taken at the work site to avoid such incidents, the officials said.

An official from MahaMetro said, "The incident took place on a stretch from Lakdi bridge towards Deccan Gymkahana, wherein foundation and pier work is under way from the past few months. The reinforcement structure is built of metal rods and mounted on the foundation to construct a pier. On Monday, the upper portion of the reinforcement of one of the piers bent in the opposite direction of the riverbed. The affected portion was about four metres in length. It bent from its original position but did not fall completely on the ground".

"A team of experts immediately visited the site but found no damage to the foundation of the pier and to the five-metre section mounted above the foundation where work of shuttering was completed," he said.

"The portion, which had curved, was above the five-metre portion of the under-construction pier. Cranes were deployed at the site to refix the reinforcement," the official said.

The MahaMetro has taken up construction of the elevated viaduct on Vanaz to Civil Court Metro stretch. Some section of the stretch is aligned along the Mutha river.

As per MahaMetro, 15% of the work on the Vanaz-Civil Court stretch and 25% of the civil work on the Pimpri-Range Hills section has been completed so far. Work has been progressing at a fast clip in view of the impending monsoon.

The Vanaz Metro depot will come up at the plot where the garbage depot stands right now in Kothrud.