The Deccan Chronicle 01.11.2010
No case filed on bridge collapseHyderabad, Oct. 31: Highlighting lax supervision by the municipal corporation, a footbridge collapsed while it was being constructed near Road No. 1 at Film Nagar in Jubilee Hills here on Sunday.
No one was injured in the incident as vehicular traffic had been diverted on the busy road for the construction of the footbridge. The GHMC failed to monitor the footbridge construction activity after awarding the contract to a private agency, Swetha Agency.
The municipal officials did not even book a case with the police over the incident. The Jubilee Hills inspector, Mr K. Narsing Rao, said no complaint has been lodged with the police. “We were informed that the overhead steel frame of the footbridge collapsed and that no one was injured,” he said.
The GHMC additional commissioner (traffic and transport), Mr Subba Rao, told this correspondent that Swetha Agency did not inform the GHMC about its plans to instal the steel frame on Sunday. “We will take appropriate action against the agency but our first priority is to clear the road by lifting the steel frame, Mr Rao said.
The incident occured in the afternoon when the steel frame of the footbridge was being installed with the help of two cranes. The frame was to be installed on the supporting structure built on either side of the road near Telugu film actor Mohan Babu’s residence in Film Nagar. The steel frame tilted during installation, lifting up one of the cranes and came crashing down.
The GHMC commissioner, Mr Sameer Sharma, said “the crane could not take the weight of steel frame after its tilted. It is not a case of footbridge collapse.”
