New Delhi: The Madhya Pradesh government suspended seven engineers, including two chief engineers of the Public Works Department(PWD) for constructing a bridge with faulty design in Bhopal. Additionally, an inquiry has been launched against a retired superintendent engineer, as the said bridge has an unusual 90-degree turn.

Apart from this, a construction company and a design consultant have been blacklisted by the government. A committee has been set up to make improvements in the bridge, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said.

Odd design of bridge a laughing stock

The newly built over bridge has been ridiculed by netizens, for its odd design. However, the engineers in the initial stages justified the flawed alignment to limited land availability near a metro station.

The officials against whom action has been taken include chief engineers Sanjay Khande and G P Verma, in-charge executive engineer Javed Shakeel, in-charge sub-divisional officer Ravi Shukla, sub-enginner Umashankar Mishra, assistant engineer Shanul Saxena, in-charge executive engineer Shabana Rajjaq and retired superintendent engineer M P Singh, said PWD additional chief secretary Neeraj Mandloi.

The firms which was blacklisted is M/s Puneet Chaddha and design consultant M/s Dynamic Consultant.

Justification of ‘faulty design’

The primary objective of the 18 crore ROB was improving the connectivity between Mahamai Ka Bagh, Pushpa Nagar and the station area with New Bhopal, aiding almost 3 lakh people.

The officials involved in the construction process of the over bridge justified their act  by claiming that they had no alternative but to construct the bridge in that way, due to the scarcity of land and the presence of a metro rail station nearby. One of the officials said that if there was more land available, the 90 degree angle would have been converted to a curve.

A PWD committee was set up by the state government to find ways to ensure safe movement of vehicles and pedestrians on the over bridge.