Portion of 50-year-old bridge in R’peth sinks as rain pounds city

Nagpur: Incessant rain for a few hours since Sunday night exposed the crumbling infrastructure in the city as a portion of over 50-year-old bridge collapsed, while part of a pipeline got washed away in gushing waters of Nag River and portion of one of the busiest streets sank on Monday.
Following the heavy downpour, bridge near University Library Square on an internal road, connecting North Ambazari Road to Central Bazaar Road in Ramdaspeth, caved in early on Monday morning.
Though no loss of life was reported in the incident, a pipeline was damaged after the collapse affecting water supply to several areas under Dharampeth zone.
“A major tragedy was averted as vehicular traffic on this otherwise busy stretch was thin owing to intermittent but heavy rain,” said former corporator Roopa Rai and blamed the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) for the mishap. “For the last two years, I have been urging the NMC to close the road for heavy vehicles, but the authorities did nothing,” said a miffed Rai.
Dharampeth zone assistant municipal commissioner Prakash Warade said at around 10am, he received a call about the collapse of the bridge’s railing over Nag River. As a portion of the ceiling of the bridge had caved in, the NMC swung into action and shut the road for vehicular movement, he said.
Rai, who claimed to have been raising concerns about the dilapidated condition of the bridge with civic authorities, said the bridge was constructed over 50 years ago. Cracks have developed at several places.
TOI had also reported that during conversion of tar road into cement road in Ramdaspeth area, the NMC had carpeted the road patch over the bridge with cement and re-laid i-blocks over the footpath. But the NMC’s public works department ignored the replacement of the bridge in entirety. In fact, the conversion work too had caused damage to the bridge, said Rai.
Municipal commissioner Radhakrishnan B told TOI that bridge replacement process has started. The NMC has invited bids, which will be opened on August 10. The NMC will be spending Rs8.38 crore on the work.
Activist and city NGO Janmanch president Rajiv Jagtap demanded structural audit of all bridges under corporation limits. “Are NMC and other government agencies waiting for human lives to be lost in bridge collapse?” he asked.
Water pipeline washed away
“A joint inspection carried out by NMC-OCW Dharampeth zone team following the bridge collapse also revealed that a 30 metre-long 100mm diameter pipeline has got washed away in the gushing waters of Nag River,” said an OCW spokesperson.
Following this, water supply to Ramdaspeth, Kachipura, Gorepeth, Giripeth, Dharampeth, Maharaj Bagh Road, Central Bazar Road and nearby areas will remain affected till the damaged portion is restored, the spokesperson added.
NMC-OCW has closed valves near Central Mall to prevent potable water from going down the drain, while the pipeline restoration work has been started, he said.
Road caves in
A portion of road at the busy Janata Square on Wardha Road caved in on Monday afternoon. Soon after the incident, Laxmi Nagar zone officials barricaded the damaged portion. Executive engineer of Laxmi Nagar zone Ajay Pazare told TOI that preliminary inspection revealed that portion of the road constructed above an old underground sever line has caved in. “We have barricaded the portion and will start repair work soon,” he said.