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Disaster - Flyover collapses in Hyderabad

A flyover which is under construction collapsed today evening and crushed many vehicles and pedestrians under it. The mishap took place at around 7:00PM. The heavy down pour in the evening is supposed to have weakened the structure and had led to the collapse of a part of it. Current death toll is at 15-20 while the actual death toll is not clear as the rescue workers are struggling to clear debris. Witnesses of the incidence report that at least 5-7 cars and 3-5 autos have been crushed by the heavy RCC structure.

Traffic jams ensued in the surrounding places and some of the effected who were being transferred to hospitals by ambulances got stuck in traffic. Huge crowds gathered around the place to watch the drama. Police had a tough time clearing the crowd so that the affected people can be given proper attention. While some actively helped the police and other workers in cleaning up the mess some on-lookers who have come there just to watch the drama surrounding the incident just added to the mess. The incident was covered all evening by the telugu news channels TV9, ETV2 and NTV. The newly launched NTV seems to have broken the story because the other channels were telecasting some other news while NTV was showing live footage of the incident.

Politicians started visiting the place within an hour. If they had any civic sense they would have stayed home. All police force had to be diverted to provide way and security to them and show them around the place. Why can't they just watch it on TV and express condolences like the rest of us and let the rescue teams work in full force.


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If you are a resident of Hyderabad or have recently visited Hyderabad you must have experienced the traffic snarls caused by the construction activity. All of us have been hoping that this would be history once the flyover becomes operational. But after this incident there are no good times in the near future.

The flyover which was planned to ease traffic in the city was supposed to have been finished by Feb '07. The construction work has been taken up by Gammon India which is a reputed construction company with an ISI certification.

The company web site says

Gammon India Limited is one of the leading Construction companies in India to-day.The company was established by late Mr. J.C.Gammon in 1919 as a firm of Civil Engineers & Contractor which in 1922 was incorporated as a Private Limited Company under the name of J. C. Gammon (Bombay) Pvt. Ltd. The firm went public in 1962 and was rechristened as Gammon India Limited.

A university professor commented on the mishap saying that the quality of the material is not to be blamed as Gammon is a very reputed company but the supporting structures used during construction might not have been well planned. Every structure during construction needs supporting structures before the weight is completely transferred to the pillars.

It was blast a few days ago then there were the AP police firing at protesters and now the flyover collapse. But life goes on.

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