Over 24 hours after a portion of a road in Kalachowkie caved-in, civic officials are yet to locate the leakage in the storm water drain running below the road. Officials from the civic storm water drain department had confirmed that the leakage caused the road to cave-in.
Chief engineer (SWD) C K Vatve said the drain is over 125 years old. “It is an old brick masonry drain which needs urgent replacement. In fact, we have already proposed the reconstruction of the drain with reinforced cement concrete (RCC),” said Vatve. He added the drain may have been leaking for many months and the rupture could be at more than one spot.
Chief engineer (roads) AV Ralkar said the BMC will require 15 days more to excavate the entire stretch. “We have excavated an area of 20 feet by 15 feet. The debris that has been pulled out is wet which suggests that we might be close to locating the leakage,” said Ralkar.
It will take more than a month to reconstruct the road, he added. The roads department will conduct a survey on all roads built over old water lines and storm water drains to check more cave-ins.