Experts Committee given 1 month to submit report on Rangchang bridge collapse

POLICE GATHERING BRIDGE SAMPLES FOR FORENSIC EXAMINATION

GANGTOK, 04 Jan: An enquiry committee has been constituted to look into the Rangchang bridge collapse in which 8 peoples lost their lives. This committee has been tasked to submit its report to the State government within one month. This is a Technical Experts Committee which was constituted by the State government on the last working day of the year 2011, 22 December, and includes the Secretaries of Building & Housing and Roads & Bridges Departments and also a officials from the CPWD.

As per the directions of the State government, the committee is to assist the district police in its investigations into the bridge collapse and also assist in the collection of samples and other materials, including materials and documents from the involved parties, namely, Upper India, Teesta Urja and the concerned contractor, Mohan Bajaj.
The engineers will be looking into the reasons behind the collapse; the suspected cause behind which is that the 48-wheel trailer was too heavy for the bridge, which was of ‘70R’ specification reinforced to take up to 100 tonnes of load.
The collected materials, namely the samples of soil and bridge, will be examined and a report submitted.
The enquiry of the committee will proceed simultaneously with the police enquiry and as DIG Range, Sreedhar Rao, informs, the report of the committee will be taken into account by the police in its investigations.
The Chief Minister, it may be recalled, had announced on the floor of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly that the State government would initiate a detailed enquiry into the incident and that those responsible, whoever they may be, would be punished.
Meanwhile, the police have started their enquiry into the bridge collapse. The Singtam police are now collecting samples of the soil as well as the bridge, including concrete, bearings, ‘earth pieces’ etc which will be forwarded for forensic examination outside the state. It is informed that the materials will be sent either to the forensic labs in Guwahati or Kolkata.
On the other hand, the police have also written to the transporting company, Upper India, whose suspected overweight trailer went down with the bridge, to forward documents related to the consignment, particularly, its nature and its weight. Till date there has been no response from the company. However, it is known that the consignment included a transformer which was being transported to the Teesta Urja hydel project site at Chungthang. It is also learnt that thus far, even Teesta Urja too has not forwarded any documentary evidence concerning the consignment.
An excuse which has been forwarded is that the documents are now lost with the vehicle. The investigating agency is however still hopeful that supplementary documents will be provided. These will obviously be vital for the investigation.