Vijayawada, January 28: Even six months after a technical committee had suggested measures to strengthen the new retaining wall of the Indrakeeladri ghat road and repairs to Mallikarjuna Swamy temple’s leaking slabs, nothing has been done so far.
The government constituted the committee comprising chief engineer of endowments R Jaganmohan, retired ENC of panchayat raj R Kondala Rao, retired professor of IIT-Chennai S Narasimha Rao, retired ENC of roads and buildings V Murahari Reddy and retired sthapathy A Velu to inspect the condition of major temples in Krishna, Guntur and Khammam districts.
The committee had visited Sri Kanaka Durga temple here on June 19 and 20 last year and inspected the developmental works there.
It inspected the 40-metre-high reinforced earthen retaining wall constructed in four levels with geo-synthetic technology for the first time in the country. It noticed cracks at various places in the facial blocks at the second and third levels. Concavity and convexity were found at some places in the first, second and third levels.
Besides, cracks were noticed in the flooring concrete laid over the earth fill at each level.
The committee advised the temple engineers to examine the reasons for such deficiencies and to suggest suitable remedial measures. It asked the officials to map the cracks in the elevation of the reinforced earthen wall showing horizontal and vertical dimensions to locate the cracks and their growth, if any. The locations of cracks were to be marked and the readings recorded once a week, it suggested.
Devotees were scared when stones broke loose and fell off the newly- built geo-synthetic retaining wall and cracks developed in the concrete slab laid on the earthen surface.
Clarifying the doubts over the cracks in the extended area of the ghat road, temple superintending engineer Balamuralikrishna said it would take a year for the settlement of the surface of the newly-laid portion near ghat road.
The one-year term will come to an end by May this year. The cracks in the concrete slab would be covered through fibre rapping and soil nailing, he said and expressed the hope that the vehicle parking would be shifted to the extended ghat road portion soon after getting clearance from the technical committee.
–Agencies