Bhubaneswar: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will conduct an inspection of the Rasulgarh flyover after boulders weighing more than one quintal fell from it on Tuesday night.

No one was injured in the incident.

The flyover starts from Palasuni and ends at Rasulgarh. Cuttack-bound commuters use this flyover and vice-versa. The length of the Rasulgarh flyover is 1,500 metres.

The NHAI had in August 2010 signed an agreement with Sri Jagannath Expressway Pvt Ltd, a concessionaire of three private firms (SREI, Simplex and GALFAR) to widen the the 67km Bhuban-eswar-Chandikhol section of the Calcutta-Chennai highway. Construction of fly overbridges in the city is a part of that road-widening project.

NHAI officials said other flyovers on the National Highway No. 5 passing through the city would also be inspected.

Commuters and residents were panic stricken after the boulders had fallen from the flyover. They have demanded inspection of all the flyovers on the national highway passing through the city.

NHAI regional officer D. Sarangi said an extra lump of concrete fell from the flyover and this had nothing to do with the main structure. "Though the structure is all right, we have decided to conduct an inspection of the flyover to ensure safety of commuters. The inspection was supposed to be conducted on Wednesday morning, but later, we decided to start it at night, keeping an eye on vehicular traffic," said Sarangi.

Sarangi also said similar inspection would be done on the Link Road flyover in Cuttack as both the flyovers had been thrown open to public in October 2015. "We have taken the matter seriously, and inspection of all the flyovers passing through the twin cities will be conducted in phase-wise manner," he said.

In September 2014, one construction worker died after a portion of a concrete slab of the under-construction flyover had collapsed at Rasulgarh. Similarly in July last year, a security guard was killed after an iron plate had fallen from the under-construction flyover at Fire Station Square on the highway.

All flyovers passing through the city at Rasulgarh, Vani Vihar, Acharya Vihar, CRPF Square and Fire Station Square have underpasses. While the heavy vehicles pass over the flyovers, thousands of motorcyclists and cars use the underpasses.

"The recent incident of collapse of a portion of the Bomikhal railway overbridge is still on the minds of residents, and Tuesday's incident has aggravated tension. Authorities must not play with the lives of people. They must complete the inspection of flyovers as soon as possible," said local resident Manoj Rout.

One person died and at least 17 others were injured when a portion of the under-construction railway overbridge collapsed on September 10. Police had arrested two officials of the works department and the managing director of the private construction company. "The team probing the incident said in its report that the contractor was responsible for the slab falling off. They have suggested blacklisting the contractor following which, it will not get new work from the government. However, we cannot back out from the contract that has already been signed," said a department official.