Guwahati: PWD places 100m wooden bridge over damaged part of Six Mile flyover

GUWAHATI: The public works department (PWD) has placed a nearly 100 metre wooden bridge on the broken part of the expansion joint of the Six Mile flyover as a stopgap measure to prevent fatal accidents.
The flyover is on the GS Road that starts from Six Mile and culminates near Khanapara, and is open for vehicular movement. The PWD has closed the extended wing of the flyover towards Panjabari for now.
The 1.65 km flyover was inaugurated by the then Assam chief minister and former Congress leader Tarun Gogoi in 2009. The construction had begun in 2005 and was supposed to be completed within 18 months at a cost of Rs 45 crore.
However, due to the delay in completion of the project, the cost escalated to Rs 55 crore .
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was then the PWD minister in the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government, had in 2008 said the delay in completion was because of several constraints, including flaws in the initial design of the flyover.
The broken part of the flyover expansion joint gradually widened over the last couple of months posing threat to lives of people.
A PWD official on Wednesday denied allegations of poor maintenance that led to the damage, and said a wooden bridge has been placed over the broken part, and the department is also working on its restoration.
Meanwhile, local residents of the area alleged that have been large-scale irregularities in the construction work of the flyover. “The project completion period was 18 months. The construction agency took four years to complete it. And now, just after 13 years, the expansion joint has got damaged and a part of it has broken down. A probe should be initiated,” said Shankar Deb, a trader of Six Mile.