‘Rapid road’ develops cracks
The BBMP’s (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) ‘rapid road’ experiment in Old Madras Road near Indiranagar, inaugurated by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai last month, has already developed cracks in several places. Civic authorities had claimed that the 375-metre stretch of Old Madras Road in Indiranagar, built using new technology, would last for 40 years.
The government plans to take up white-topping using the old method. Bommai agreed to the third phase of the project comprising 89 roads, at Rs 1,429 crore, to fit the 2022-23 scheduled rates (SR).
The IISc (Indian Institute of Science) has agreed to review and offer suggestions regarding the 375-metre-long road. IISc has charged Rs 23.41 lakh as the consultancy fee for the tasks that will take three months to complete, including checking the soil and subsurface investigation report, in-situ testing, and measurement of subgrade and sub-base. The technology was introduced as a part of the research and development (R&D) programme of UltraTech Cement Ltd. BBMP is planning to ask the private firm to bear the full consultancy charges.
The cost of the ‘rapid road’ technology is 20-25 % more than that of white topping. The BBMP is trying to find out if the cracks developed because of the pressure of vehicular movement or for some other reason.
Source: Indian Express, Deccan Herald
Read more: Road safety: Audit reveals BBMP roads most hazardous, with 19-20 hazards per km
3-metre sinkhole on Brigade Road
A three-metre-deep sinkhole on Brigade Road injured a motorcyclist and led to huge traffic jams on January 3rd.
The reason for the sinkhole is not clear, though a 2.762-km metro line is being laid 35 feet under Brigade Road. The underground metro line is being constructed from Rashtriya Military School (Vellara Junction) to Shivajinagar as part of the 21.386-km corridor, from Kalena Agrahara on Bannerghatta Road southwestern Bengaluru to Nagawara in the city’s northeast.
One BMRCL source said that the mishap was due to loss of soil and water leakage from an underground pipeline, not due to metro tunnelling. The asphalt is about one metre thick and cannot be damaged by just a cavity, he said.
While the hole is now being filled with concrete, metro authorities will probe further. They will send a steel cone into the rock and if the soil becomes loose or there is a cavity below, the cone will fall rapidly. Otherwise, if the soil is rocky, the cone will go down slowly.
Source: Deccan Herald
2-stage casting after pillar collapse
The BMRCL (Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited) will issue fresh guidelines mandating a two-stage reinforcement and concretising for metro pillars to avoid accidents. This is in response to the 18-metre-tall reinforcement structure of a metro pillar falling on a bike and killing a mother and her son, along the K. R. Puram-airport line on January 10th.
Workers will create a one-metre high concrete base to erect iron reinforcement for a pillar 12-23 metres tall, tied with a guy-wire. Experts as well as relatives of the deceased questioned why the contractor had raised an 18-metre-high pillar without safety precautions.
Hence, the BMRCL MD, Anjum Parvez, said the reinforcement construction’s change in protocol will avoid such mishaps. Notices are being issued to the contractor, while the engineers, internal technical team, and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) will investigate the incident. He added that safety engineers had been present 40-45 minutes before the accident took place at Nagavara and the alignment at that time was fine then.
Meanwhile, the chief engineer in charge of civil construction work for package one (Benniganahalli-Kempapura) of the KR Puram-airport metro line has not been named in the FIR registered over the incident.
Source: The Hindu, Indian Express, Deccan Herald
Read more: Ranked 15 overall, Bengaluru lags behind in two key SDGs
Surprise raids on pet shops
For the first time in the country, surprise inspections and raids on pet shops by a joint team of officials from KAWB (Karnataka Animal Welfare Board), the BBMP Veterinary Department, and the City police helped to rescue 1,344 animals from 16 species.
The KAWB said that they had been getting multiple complaints of animal cruelty. Pet shops are required to abide by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, and rules made under PCA, Pet Shop Rules, 2016, and PCA, Dog (Breeding and Marketing Rules) 2016.
The animals were housed in overcrowded and unclean cages, with unweaned puppies for sale and not enough food or water for many. A few pet shops ran without licenses, while many did not cater to their medical needs and left the injured untreated.
Source: Deccan Herald
‘Fix my street’ application
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has launched the ‘Fix My Street’ application in order to help the public flag potholes across the city. Users can raise a detailed complaint and upload their name, phone number, location, and a picture of the road that needs to be repaired.
Once a complaint is raised, assistant engineers will visit the spot, a work order will be created, and road repair will ensue. The complaint redressal time could be anywhere between two and four weeks.
Source: Indian Express
[Compiled by Revathi Siva Kumar]