Army hands over footbridge near Nehru stadium
By IANSFriday, October 1, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Indian Army has built in record time a footbridge near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and handed it over to the Commonwealth Games organisers, an official said Friday.
“The (95-metre) bridge has been handed over to the organisers,” an official in the army headquarters told IANS. The organisers were informed Thursday evening that the overbridge was ready.
The army stepped in to build the retractable overpass after an under-construction footbridge collapsed Sep 21 near the stadium, the main venue of the Oct 3-14 sporting event, injuring 27 workers.
The Delhi government then asked the army to step in.
The new structure, made of portable steel sheets and iron angles with roadbed width of 12 feet, has been erected on concrete pillars on either side of the elevated Barapullah Nallah, on which the earlier structure rested, near Lodhi Road.
When the army was approached Sep 25, its engineers swiftly conducted a feasibility test and drew up a design, working on war footing. They added three piers to make the bridge more safe.
The framework, made of iron grills serving as support for the floor and the railings, was completed on the second day.
The bridge, to be used by athletes during the event, connects the main Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to a nearby parking lot.
The officials refused to give an estimate of the cost of the structure. The army will pack it away after the Oct 3-14 Games.
The bridge collapse triggered a barrage of criticism over preparations for the event, the biggest in India after the 1982 Asian Games.
The earlier bridge was built by a private company for the Public Works Department of Delhi government at a cost of Rs.10.5 crore.
