The deadline for completion of the construction of the Tallah bridge in north Kolkata could get pushed by a few months from end-April owing to shortage of skilled workers, many of whom have tested positive while working at the site.
Senior officials of the public works department, which is executing the Rs 350-crore project, said around 10 skilled welders were available for assembling work of six bowstring girders — each spanning around 1.5 kilometre — against a requirement of 20 such hands.
Several senior engineers and other staff, including technicians, have tested Covid positive, making it a challenging task to rush through the construction work, officials said.
A team of senior officials, led by PWD secretary Omkar Singh Meena, has been compelled to regularly review the manpower strength at the construction site in the last two weeks.
“Despite the manpower shortage, we have decided to start the construction work of the two approaches of the bridge, from Dunlop-end and Shyamabazar-end within a day or two,” said a PWD official. “This work would have progressed faster had the poor property of the underground soil not forced us to go for piling work. A part of the design layout of the two approaches had to be altered because of the underlying pipe network.”
The 750-metre Tallah bridge will have six piers at the Shyambazar end and another six towards the Dunlop end with six piers in the middle holding a 200-metre deck slab over the rail tracks.
The new Tallah bridge will connect large parts of north Kolkata, including Dunlop, Baranagar, Sinthee and Chiria More to Shyambazar over the railway tracks.
Engineers working on the project said the bridge was now in the critical stage with steel girders being launched on piers standing between the railway tracks in Tallah. These steel girders will hold concrete deck slabs atop them.
“There are four spans which need to be covered with girders and each span measures around 50 metre. The only time available for this critical work is at late night hours when a traffic block is in place," said the official.
The railway has offered a traffic block between 10pm and 6am restricting all movement of trains over Tallah tracks to facilitate the construction of the bridge.
Officials in Nabanna said the Commissioner of Railway Safety has issued clearance for launching of the girders over the tracks in Tallah.
A team of railway officers has been engaged to oversee that the work of launching of the girders is carried out according to the rules.
“The entire team is working day and night to meet the deadline and make up for any lag that the new situation has thrown up,” the official said.