The government also issued comprehensive guidelines for the inspection of bridges.
Ahmedabad:
Four months after the suspension bridge collapse in Morbi town, the Gujarat government told the High Court on Thursday that it has formulated a comprehensive, uniform policy with regard to the inspection and maintenance of major and minor bridges located in urban areas.
The state, in an affidavit submitted before a division bench of Acting Chief Justice AJ Desai and Justice Biren Vaishnav, said it has submitted a government order dated March 6 regarding the inspection and maintenance of major and minor bridges in areas falling under municipalities and municipal corporations. Resolution (Gr) issued. ,
The government told the Gujarat High Court on October 30, while hearing a PIL on the collapse of the suspension bridge on the Machhu river in Morbi, that it has laid down a procedure for inspection of masonry structures twice a year. May and October, i.e. before and after monsoon.
The affidavit states that officers not below the rank of Deputy Executive Engineer will carry out the inspection and prepare a report, based on which the Executive Engineer will conduct physical inspection of these structures.
The state administration said that timely inspection of bridges and remedial measures would be taken to detect any damage.
According to the affidavit, special inspections will also be carried out to ascertain their performance to abnormal events such as earthquakes and passage of abnormal loads, and the superintending engineers will inspect special types of bridges at least once after monsoon.
It stated that items of damage to the structure requiring immediate attention should be brought to the notice of the competent authority along with all relevant details or record plans.
The government also issued comprehensive guidelines for the inspection of bridges.
It had earlier told the court that there are 461 bridges under the Urban Development Department, of which 398 do not require any repair. Two of these are hanging bridges, both located in Rajkot district.
The state’s Roads and Buildings Department looks after 1,441 bridges, for which the government already has a policy regarding their inspection and maintenance.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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