GURUGRAM: There is a new crack on the Jaipur to Delhi
carriageway of the
Hero Honda Chowk flyover, forcing authorities to partially close the bridge on Monday for seven days to carry out the necessary repair work. This is the second time since April when cracks have developed on the same stretch of the flyover.
On April 25, TOI had reported that a chunk of concrete had fallen off the flyover, leaving a 1.5m-crater in the Delhi-bound flank. Though the contractor Valecha Engineer Limited, which built the flyover and is in-charge of its maintenance, hurriedly did a patchwork to cover up the pothole, it sought a report from IIT-Bombay on the flyover.
The flyover was constructed to ease vehicular traffic on NH-8, but the cracks have choked the highway all over again. All day on Monday, commuters were harried by tailbacks on the route.
However, officials claimed the repair work currently being undertaken, are on the new crack, and that it follows IIT-Bombay’s report, highlighting a defective patch on the Delhi-side of the flyover. Sources, though, told TOI the repair work is being carried out on the previous crack, even as the new one was spotted on the same flank. Sources added the authorities have placed an 8ft x 10ft mat over the crack to cover it up.
Ashok Sharma, GM (technical) and project director, NHAI Gurugram, said, “Repair of one side of Hero Honda Chowk flyover is being carried out based on the IIT-Bombay report. Traffic on the Jaipur-Delhi flank of the flyover has been closed for the repairs, which will take at least a week to be completed.”
Meanwhile, Madhusudhan Rao, project manager, Valecha Engineer Limited, said, “We will again lay the road on the Jaipur-Delhi side. There is a small defective patch on the flyover which needs repairs. The reason we have stopped traffic movement on this side of the flyover is to prevent any accident, as the flyover may vibrate during the repair work. Also, vehicular movement will interrupt the repair work.”
“IIT-Bombay has submitted its report. We’re carrying some repair works on the flyover based on it. In its report, IIT-Bombay has pointed at an area and suggested we repair that patch to avoid any mishap in future,” Rao added.
The construction of the Hero Honda Chowk flyover — part of a major revamp project carried out by NHAI to unclog the perennially congested crossing on NH-8 — had begun in November 2014. Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar later put the project on fast track, in the wake of ‘Gurujam’ in July 2016. The flyover was inaugurated in July 2017.
