Structural audit of iron arches stalled

Over 200 arches in city need for strengthening

LOKMAT NEWS NETWORK

Nashik, Mar 6

The structural audit of more than 200 arches with signs with direction boards is pending. It is important to do the audit as accidents have occurred due to the collapse of such arches in many cities.

These huge iron arches are erected on the important and busy roads in the city. There are small directional arches on dividers and both sides of the road. Recognising this danger, the Public Works Department of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) is going to conduct a safety audit of the directional arches in the city. For this, the audit rates were sought from the government-recognised CivilTech, NDMVPS’s KBT College of Engineering, and Sandeep Foundation. Except for Sandeep Foundation, the other two institutes have sent the rates to the NMC. The tender was to be opened in the first week of the new year. The number of small and big directional arches in the city is more than two 200. The strength of these arches has not been structurally audited even once. The organisation that gets the job, will be given three months for the audit.

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During the last two Kumbh Melas, the inner ring road network in the city had been expanded. New colonies are also increasing. The directional arches act as a guide for the citizens of the city, tourists, as well as the vehicles coming from outside. However, it is important to check whether these arches are strong enough. Hence the need for an audit.