Indian Express 02.06.2010
Kalachowkie road cave-in: 3 months on, BMC inches towards completion of repairs
Stuti Shukla Tags : Kalachowkie road cave-in, mumbai Posted: Wed Jun 02 2010, 23:42 hrs
Mumbai: More than three months after a portion of the cement-concrete road at Kalachowkie caved in, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is finally inching towards the completion of the repairs of the road and the work on the underlying storm water drainage. The road will reopen to traffic by June 7.
However, the civic body will now replace the 2000-sq m excavated stretch at Shravan Yashwant Chowk with paver blocks instead of concrete since BMC claims that it does not have the time to concretise the road before monsoon. Following directions from municipal commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya, the BMC has sped up repair works by laying paver blocks which are not usually suitable for junctions with heavy traffic.
A crater measuring 10 ft by 20 ft and over 10 ft deep was formed on February 23 when a cement-concrete slab caved in at the busy junction, off the P D’Mello Road. The cause of the incident was attributed to continuous leakage in the 125-year-old brick masonry storm water drain running underground. The road has two bus stops on either sides and has heavy vehicular flow.
Major part of the junction has been cordoned off and traffic has been diverted for over the past 100 days.
Now, as the BMC prepares to wind up repairs on the road before the onset of monsoon, the entire excavated stretch will have to be replaced with paver blocks which are inferior in quality as compared to cement concrete road. The reason, there is no time to lay a new cement concrete road in the area as it will take more than 15 days. The BMC fears that monsoon will hit the city much before that.
An official from the roads department said the excavated portion is 6 metre deep and the department will not be able to consolidate the ground so soon to lay the concrete road. “While laying a concrete road, a process called ‘curing’ has to be followed where-in the cement-concrete is allowed to dry up for two weeks before it is thrown open to traffic. Since there is no time now, we have to lay paver-blocks,” said the official.
Asked if the road will be concretised after monsoons, the official said, “There is no possibility in the near future owing to fund crunch. For some years, the road will remain with paver-blocks,” he said.
The repair of the storm water drain, excavation and paver-block laying have together cost the BMC around Rs.4 crore. Incidentally, the road happens to be the first road ever to be concretised in the city in 1983.
