UP 2 labourers injured as concrete girder of under-construction expressway falls

Saharanpur (UP), Mar 23 (PTI) Two labourers were injured after a concrete girder of the under-construction Delhi-Dehradun Expressway fell on them in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district on Sunday, police said.
     The two labourers suffered injuries in their legs when a girder, which was being shifted using a machine, fell, Deoband Circle Officer Ravikant Parashar told PTI.
     The girder might have slipped while being shifted, he said, adding that one of the labourers has fractured his leg.
     "According to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials, no one is trapped under the pillar but even then we are check it," he said.
     Narendra Singh, Project Director at NHAI, said that under the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor Project implemented by the authority, a flyover is being constructed on the Deoband Canal, which is located in Saharanpur district.
     For this work, a canal closure of 15 days was approved from March 13, under which the process of girder launching was being done on March 23. During the girder launching, the string wire of the crane broke and one girder fell along with four others, he said.
     He also said that it is clear from this that this incident has happened technically due to failure of the crane's string wire and not due to any deficiency in the quality of the girders.
     Singh said that fortunately, the contractor of the project had already made proper arrangements for traffic diversion due to which there was no loss of life.
     Two labourers have received minor injuries at the spot, whose treatment is being done by the contractor at his own expense, he said.
     Singh said that in view of the seriousness of the incident, an expert committee has been constituted by the NHAI Headquarters New Delhi, which will visit the site and conduct a detailed technical investigation of the causes of the incident and submit its report to the authority.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)