Kundapur: Unscientific highway work - Ottinene hillock caves in, road blocked


Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Jun 7: On account of unscientific execution of national highway widening work, Ottinene hillock lining the national highway No 66 that has been dug up all around slumped and got deposited on the national highway 66.

Apparently, the negligence of IRB company which has been entrusted with the work of widening the highway, has caused this accident. Luckily, no loss of life was reported.

After the hillock crashed on to the highway at 11 pm on Tuesday June 6, the road connectivity to areas falling on the other side of the area including far flung ones, has been thrown out of gear.

During the work, the base of the hillock had been dug, resulting in the hillock slumping. As the hillock had come down by about 20 feet, even people travelling by the road were apprehensive about facing danger from this precariously positioned hillock. The fact that the base of the hillock is made of soft clay with top soil being hard, always posed danger for the hillock. The company aggravated the situation by removing soil from the base of the hillock in an unscientific manner. This hillock, people were afraid, would come crashing down during last monsoon. With the advent of rainfall this year, this fear had resurfaced. On Tuesday night, the hillock slipped from its position and fell on the highway.

As vehicular traffic was sparse when the hillock fell at night, it did not inflict any loss to life and property. If the accident had happened during the day, the damage would have been immense. JCBs have been striving hard to remove mud from the road and clear the highway for traffic. As there are no alternative roads to this, long lines of vehicles have been formed on both the sides.

The bottom of this hillock was dug and mud was transported to low lying areas for road widening work. The people had warned during the digging that the hillock might come crashing down but those who were undertaking the task did not take this warning seriously. They did not even resort to providing revetment against collapse of mud or providing concrete barricades as a precautionary measure. The people are angry that even the engineers took the matter lightly, resulting in undue problems for the highway users.

At the beginning of rainy season, accidents have begun to occur. There have been allegations that negligent execution of road work has been observed elsewhere too. The district administration needs to intervene and take strong steps to ensure that safety of people is given prime importance and the highway builders do everything scientifically as otherwise the lives of highway users will be at risk.

  

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Comment on this article

  • J.F.D SOUZA, Attavar, Mangalore

    Sat, Jun 10 2017

    Not only Highway work. Everywhere and everything is being done like this without using proper brain work. sack such useless Engineers who are responsible for this lapse. In Mangalore also some woorks like concreting roads, Drainage and drain works are done in an unscientific manner.And nobody is bothered about this. Only pecentage ... percentage.. nothing but this.

    DisAgree Agree [1] Reply Report Abuse

  • George m, Valencia

    Thu, Jun 08 2017

    Will action be taken against rhe contractors? This is a dangerous lapse

    DisAgree [1] Agree [3] Reply Report Abuse

  • DPRK, Kundapura

    Thu, Jun 08 2017

    IRB is a marati company, why grant contract for such brainless people?? Navayuga does much better cleaner work than IRB. Apart from delay in Navayuga work they have laid out good quality roads.

    DisAgree [1] Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • Rob Stan, Udupi / US

    Thu, Jun 08 2017

    The height of the hillock is more than the width of the highway. The highway is fully covered up to the edge & hillock is without any slope which is dangerous. Any lay person can say that road needs to be still widened with safety area at both ends with slope on the hillock.

    DisAgree Agree [3] Reply Report Abuse

  • Aubb, Kuwait

    Thu, Jun 08 2017

    NH 66 is a big slap on the faces of Coastal residents.

    DisAgree Agree [3] Reply Report Abuse

  • Ruben Pinto, mangalore/Australia.

    Wed, Jun 07 2017

    It happens on Shiradi ghat too. Unqualified hafta contractors get the job done with cheap labour and no qualified engineers.

    DisAgree [1] Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • Manoj, Mangalore

    Wed, Jun 07 2017

    If u have engineers passing out by paying donations and not on merit what more u expect.More than 75% have degrees but are not employable...

    DisAgree [2] Agree [11] Reply Report Abuse

  • amarnath shetty, Bantwal

    Wed, Jun 07 2017

    Where is modi!!! Or Gadgari!!!

    DisAgree [8] Agree [22] Reply Report Abuse

  • Bharath, Mangalore

    Wed, Jun 07 2017

    Modi went on world tour again

    DisAgree [1] Agree [3] Reply Report Abuse

  • Marol, Udupi

    Wed, Jun 07 2017

    The beginning of the rainy season is like this. What will be the end???

    DisAgree Agree [16] Reply Report Abuse

  • Ronald D, Udupi

    Wed, Jun 07 2017

    Only concerned about Toll collection! Who cares if the road commuters are affected!!

    DisAgree [1] Agree [31] Reply Report Abuse

  • winston, mangalore/dubai

    Wed, Jun 07 2017

    Clearly from the photos , it looks like the company did not provide enough slope on the side of cutting . A SLOPE OF 1.5 METER FOR EVERY 1 METER VERTICAL HEIGHT SHOULD HAVE BEEN PROVIDED .

    Again this is India , and this is how some rubbish contractors execute the work .

    Bad practice by the contractor concerned . Need to be rectified before another accident occurs.

    DisAgree Agree [21] Reply Report Abuse

  • NM, Mangalore

    Wed, Jun 07 2017

    They were probably more worried about the adjacent Konkan railway tunnel.

    DisAgree [1] Agree [8] Reply Report Abuse


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Title: Kundapur: Unscientific highway work - Ottinene hillock caves in, road blocked



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