Team Herald
PANJIM: The Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) has issued a statement to the media clarifying its stand with regard to the collapse of protection wall constructed at Orlim village, in view of the wide-spread criticism it had earned not only from the locals of the village but from other parts of Goa as well.
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“Consultants have been appointed to supervise the work. Prima Facie it appears that the retaining wall has tilted due to hydrostatic pressure exerted on the under construction retaining wall, due to the incessant rains. In the absence of an adequate number of weep holes, which relieve the hydrostatic pressure, the wall has tilted,” said GSIDC in its official statement, on Monday.
“The second possibility is that weep holes that have been provided may have got clogged. Non-provision of adequate number of weep holes is a lapse on the part of consultant and contractor. A simple exercise of providing adequate weep holes as per IRC Code would have prevented this incident,” the GSIDC added.
They further asserted that the cost to reconstruct the wall shall be recovered from the party found responsible for the failure, with no additional financial implications to the GSIDC.
“As regards other issues that are viral on social media, we have not encroached on any water body. There was an existing bundh, which people use as a pathway to go to the church. The retaining walls were required because the formation level was raised, so that the pathway is usable even in monsoons. In fact huge cross drainages have been provided, whereas the ones that were existing, were very small,” the GSIDC added.
