Patna: A portion of Bailey Road, where underpass work was on as part of the Lohia Path Chakra, caved in early on Sunday morning, sending senior officials rushing to the spot.
The cave-in occurred between 3am and 4am in front of the Bihar Public Service Commission office. The administration swung into action by 6am. Traffic diversions were set up for 500m till Punaichak to the east of Bailey Road and about 1km till Sheikhpura Mor on the west.
Work was on when the area surrounding the portion dug up for the underpass caved in.
"The portion collapsed because of pressure from the drainage water," said P.P. Arasu, the project director of SP Singla Constructions that has been awarded the contract. "The water does not have any space to drain out, so the portion in front of the BPSC office collapsed first, with the cascading effect felt on the other end too."
Urban development and housing department's principal secretary Chaitanya Prasad, who was present at the spot, however, claimed there's enough space for the water to drain out. The urban development department is responsible for ensuring accumulated water drains out during such road projects.
A senior road construction department engineer said under cover of anonymity that unequal load while constructing the underpass led to the cave-in. "When the underpass was being dug, there should have been uniform barricading to keep equal pressure on all ends. But there was just one layer of barricading instead of three as should have been," the engineer said.
The Lohia Path Chakra (Bailey Road multi-junction interchange project) is being constructed for Rs 391.48 crore. The Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Ltd is the nodal agency for the project that comprises short, elevated roads and underpasses at seven traffic junctions between Lalit Bhavan and income-tax roundabout. It was expected to be ready by 2019 but is running late by almost six months. Sunday's cave-in will delay the project further.
Road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav, who was supposed to be at the BJP office on Sunday for the Prime Minister's Mann Ki Baat programme, remained on site.
Other senior officials who rushed to the spot included Pul Nirman Nigam chairman Jitendra Srivastava, district magistrate Kumar Ravi, director-general of police K.S. Dwivedi, Patna senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaaj and traffic superintendent of police P.N. Mishra.
