Cable Bridge, Surat or Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Bridge is a

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...

over the

Tapti River The Tapti River (or Tapi) is a river in central India located to the south of the Narmada river that flows westwards before draining into the Arabian Sea. The river has a length of around and flows through the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat ...

that connects the Athwa and Adajan areas of

Surat Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is now ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The bridge is named after Indian politician and thinker

Deendayal Upadhyaya Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya (25 September 1916 – 11 February 1968) was an Indian politician, proponent of integral humanism ideology and leader of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the forerunner of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ...

. A connected 3-way interchange flyover bridge was constructed on the Athwalines side to facilitate easy flow of the traffic.

Background

The construction of a new bridge over the

at Athwa was proposed in 2006. S. N. Bhobe and Associates, Navi Mumbai, was selected as the designer for both of the bridges in 2008. S. N. Bhobe and Associates has been designing projects for the

Surat Municipal Corporation Surat Municipal Corporation is the local civic body responsible for the administration of Surat, Gujarat which has come into being under the Bombay Provincial Municipal Act, 1949. The Surat Municipal Corporation was established on 2 October 1966 ...

(SMC) since 2006. The same company previously designed the Fly Over Bridge at Nana Varachha junction, Fly Over Bridge at Kapodra Fire Station junction, Hajira - Adajan Flyover bridge and Shri Swami Dayanand Saraswati bridge across the Tapti River for SMC. Construction work for the cable-stayed bridge started in 2010. The construction this portion of the bridge (River-Bridge) was contracted to Gammon India and the connected 3-way interchange flyover bridge on the Athwa side of the main river bridge was contracted to Rachana Construction. Spectrum Techno Consultant Private Limited was appointed as Project Manager Consultant to supervise the entire construction work and to ensure that the construction was taking place as per standards.

Incident

On 25 May 2014

concrete slab A concrete slab is a common structural element of modern buildings, consisting of a flat, horizontal surface made of cast concrete. Steel- reinforced slabs, typically between 100 and 500 mm thick, are most often used to construct floors and ...

work was being carried out at the sharp turning portion of the 3-way interchange flyover bridge. On 10 June 2014 workers started removing the staging plates (

formwork Formwork is Molding (process), molds into which concrete or similar materials are either precast concrete, precast or cast-in-place concrete, cast-in-place. In the context of concrete construction, the falsework supports the shuttering mold ...

) from the slab, whose concrete was poured 15 days earlier on 25 May. Around 8 a.m. the whole slab weighing 650 tonnes, and of 35 metres in length, collapsed from 40 feet high. 16 workers were buried under the slab, 10 workers died on-the-spot and 6 sustained major or minor injuries.

Investigation

Gujarat Engineering Research Institution in Vadodara was appointed to investigate the site, debris and material used for construction. Based on their report, the material used for construction was judged poor quality. The design documents were sent to

Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat National Institute of Technology Surat (SVNIT or NIT Surat), is a public technical university established by the Parliament of India in 1961. It is one of 31 National Institutes of Technology in India recognized by the Government of India as a ...

for verification. Their report said there were major flaws in the design of the sharply curved part of the bridge. The sharp curvature was not taken into account by the designer, instead the design calculation was based on a straight slab, actually the detailed analysis should have been performed for that curved section. The center of gravity of that slab was outside the bridge deck and that created a larger 'turning moment', making the slab unstable.

Aftermath

Based on investigations, the Police Inspector of Umra Police Station lodged a

first information report __NOTOC__ A first information report (FIR) is a document prepared by police organisations in Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan when they receive information about the commissio ...

on 3 July 2014 against 18 accused under section 304 Part II, 337, 338 and 114 of the

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established in ...

. This included three employees of 'S. N. Bhobe and Associates, Navi Mumbai', five engineers from 'Spectrum Techno Consultant Private Limited,' four directors and three others of 'Rachana Constructions', and three engineers from 'SMC Bridge Cell.' SMC Blacklisted 'S. N. Bhobe and Associates, Navi Mumbai' and transferred the design contract to 'L & T Infrastructure Eng. Ltd'. 'Rachana Construction' was also blacklisted. Subsequently

Gammon India Gammon India Limited is one of the largest civil engineering construction companies in India. Headquartered in Mumbai, it was founded in 1922 by John C. Gammon. Notable projects Gammon India has executed some notable civil engineering project ...

was also blacklisted due to them abandoning the incomplete work in November 2014. The remaining bridge construction contract of the Bridge was issued to 'Unique Construction, Surat'. The initial plan was to complete the construction in 30 months, but the collapse of one portion of the 3-Way Interchange Flyover Bridge during construction delayed the project. The bridge was inaugurated by the

Chief Minister of Gujarat The Chief Minister of Gujarat is the chief executive of the government of the Indian state of Gujarat. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. The chief minister's term ...

Vijay Rupani Vijaybhai Ramniklalbhai Rupani (born 2 August 1956) is an Indian politician who served as the 16th Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2016 to 2021 for two terms. He is a member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, representing Rajkot West. He is a ...

, on 2 October 2018, 8 years after starting the construction.

Background

Incident

Investigation

Aftermath

See also

References

Further reading