Patna: Building construction department (BCD) minister Maheswar Hazari on Monday inspected the upcoming Bihar police headquarters building. Once completed, this would be the state's first quakeproof building and will remain fully functional even during a 9 Richter quake.
Coming up on a seven-acre plot beside Bailey Road, the building will become functional by March. During inspection, Hazari was given a PowerPoint presentation in which BCD engineers talked about the status of ongoing work.
Constructed at a cost of Rs 335 crore, the project is delayed by six months. Chief minister Nitish Kumar had inaugurated the project on August 11, 2015, and it was set for completion in 24 months. BCD executive engineer Ram Babu Prasad said it got delayed after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) stopped the work twice.
"It is the first building in Bihar and sixth in India which is being built on the dynamic isolation system, which can weather a quake of up to 9 on the Richter scale," Prasad said. "Nothing will happen to the building and it will remain fully functional. It has a lead rubber bearing imported from America. It is being built applying techniques developed in New Zealand."
The entire project is divided into six wings. The concept has been taken from the Bhuj District hospital, built in 2003 after the 2001 Bhuj quake.
Altogether 176 bearings have been used in the Bhuj hospital building and 310 in the Bihar police headquarters building. Prasad said the building was designed keeping Bihar's worst calamity - the 1934 quake of magnitude 8.0 - in mind.
Hazari said the building's main attraction was the emergency operation centre (EOC) in the third wing of the building. It is a completely separate wing with separate entry and exit. At the time of disaster it would be the busiest wing having state-of-the-art facilities.
"From this wing, the chief minister can keep eye on all 38 districts as it would be connected with the all district headquarters control rooms," Hazari said. "It has power back-up of 10 days in case all the power system turn defunct in Patna. It also has a rooftop helipad and water treatment plant with capacity of 3.5 lakh l water with fire hydrant. It also has a separate sewage treatment plant."
The building also has an auditorium with capacity to accommodate 450 people. Once functional, entry to and exit from will take place after fingerprints are verified.
The building in front of the Golf Club will accommodate offices of the director-general of police, officials of the criminal investigation department, special branch, government railway police, Bihar military police and the director-general of police (training) and others.
