CANACONA: A 20-metre of the gabion retaining wall linking the Galgibaga-Mashem bridge on Mashem side collapsed on Sunday morning. The link is yet to be commissioned for traffic.
The 100 metres wooven gabion wall meant to hold the 6-metre high soil filled to connect the Galgibaga-Mashem bridge on NH66 bypass road collapsed early Sunday morning. As there was no one in the vicinity when the wall collapsed there were no casualties reported.
It may be recalled that Herald in its edition of June 16, had done an exclusive story of a slight tilt in the wall on the top section of the gabion wall and expressed fears that it will, in all probability, collapse sooner or later.
The contractor without wasting time then had removed at least two sections and had tried to stabilise it from further damage, but unable to bear its own weight together with the weight of the freshly filled soil getting wet in the rains, a 20-mt section collapsed early Sunday morning.
A person identifying himself as general manager of MVR Infra Pvt Ltd, who is the contractor for this 7.74 kms bypass link, said that the 20 mts section collapsed due to the fault of the operator of an earth mover which was working at that place when the wall collapsed.
"The teeth of the excavator got entangled in the mesh destabilising the gabion wall resulting its partial collapse," he added.
"The Char Rasta-Mashem bypass NH66 was scheduled to be inaugurated on Saturday (July 20), and if the wall had to collapse during movement of traffic it would have been disastrous," said Santana Da Costa social activist and former panch of Mashem ward.
Speaking about the collapse, Manoj Prabhugaonkar, highlighted that the laterite stones used are not suitable as the environment is harsh and if it is repaired with the same material it will collapse again, he said.
"The matter regarding this filling where the wall collapsed is in court, we have pointed out that this filling in the Mashem creek is illegal and the 100 mts portion has to be removed and connected by extending the bridge up to the bank of the river," added Prabhugaonkar.