statesman news service

Kolkata, 9 January

The broken portion of the Ultadanga flyover will be repaired within March this year, state municipal affairs and urban development minister, Mr Firhad Hakim said today at Writers’ Buildings.

He said the bidding process for repairing the flyover was completed today and tenders will be opened on 15 January.

Two people were injured after a portion from the middle of the Ultadanga flyover collapsed with a truck travelling on it falling into a nearby canal early last year. Former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had inaugurated the flyover two years ago.

Mr Hakim had earlier said that the Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) would provide consultancy for construction of the affected portion.

He, today, however, did not say whether the flyover would be repaired with RITES consultancy. Airport bound motorists are going through a harrowing time ever since the flyover collapsed as traffic movement in the surrounding areas has become slower.

Mr Hakim had earlier said that a crack had been detected in the flyover one-and-a-half years ago and Jadavpur University experts had examined it.

Locals had helped with the repair work.

The 1,290-metre Ultadanga flyover was partly funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM).

The project, however, had faced time overruns because of work stoppages. The engineers reportedly had to change the alignment to the approach road because of protests by the locals over the demolition of certain "unauthorised" structures.