IMPHAL, February 4: Five labourers engaged in the construction of a 60 meter long bridge above the Iril River at Keirao Litan Makhong were injured when a 15 meter portion of the bridge collapse. One of them is said to be in a critical condition.
An official of the PWD present at the construction site following the collapse identified the concerned contractor as Md Liyakat Ali.
The construction of the bridge is undertaken under the State Public Works Department Bridge division with funding from the Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resource at an estimated cost of Rs 562.62 lakhs, he said.
All five injured identified as Abdul Hussain, 40, of Sangaiyumpham; Md Amusana, 27, of Sangaiyumpham Mairenkhong; Md Nanao alias Naoba, 30, son of Bhojao of Sangaiyumpham Mairenkhong; Md Anwar, 25, of Sangaiyumpham and Md Abdul Jabab, 45, son of Abdul Aziz of Sangaiyumphal Puleipokpi have been admitted at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences.
According to a labourer, the incident occurred around 9am when they were about to fill up the third deck of the 15 feet long stretch with concrete mixture. The injured labourers were working above the said portion when it collapse, he continued.
The PWD official elaborated that the bridge is divided into four 15 feet long stretch and each supported by concrete beams. Each stretch has three concrete slabs decked one above the other with thickness of two and a half feet each, he said.
What collapsed today was the upper most deck of one of the 15 feet stretches, he said before adding that construction on the said slab had started on Monday and was supposed to be completed today.
Meanwhile, locals have blamed the state PWD for the incident and lamented that it has failed to properly maintain the quality.
A local said if the bridge had collapse after it was inaugurated, it would have killed several innocents. He further appealed to the concerned authorities to properly inspect the construction work and to maintain quality control. Locals had also complained that a retaining wall constructed by the same contractor next to the bridge had also collapsed some months back.