Samjajpur ROB in Odisha’s Puri unsafe, caves in again

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Puri, Apr 7:

Samjajpur Railway over bridge (ROB) in Odisha’s Puri district is found to be unsafe as a portion of the flyover caved in 4 inch from its actual height.

With the latest incident, uncertainty prevails over the movement of the vehicles on the over bridge ahead of World famous Ratha Yatra of Lord Jagannath.

A technical team of officials comprising of NHAI Chief General Manager (CGM) Dharmananda Sarangi will visit the spot to assess the condition of the over bridge.

Further step will be taken after reviewing the condition of the over bridge, which is in dilapidated state, the NHAI informed.

“We don’t want to put the people’s life at risk. The NHAI has also taken it on priority basis. A technical team is coming today to assess the strength and stability of the over bridge. Then only we can take a concrete view. Immediately, there is no danger. We will take further step after technical review to know whether there will be any issue in future”, said Puri Collector Arvind Agarwal.

Recently, thousands of sand-filled bags caught fire four days back.

Earlier, the vehicular movement was halted for around one month after a portion of the over bridge caved in during Ratha Yatra last year.

The district administration was planning to resume the operation this year ahead of the car festival.