Incident occurred when the crane was transporting guideway beam that was to be erected between Wadala and Jacob Circle for the ongoing monorail work
A water pipeline that was over 25 years old gave away under the weight of a 90-tonne crane between Wadala and Jacob Circle yesterday. The rupture resulted in disruption of water supply to few areas in and around these areas.
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BMC workers repair the ruptured pipeline on E Moses Road yesterday morning. Pic/Datta Kumbhar
Apart from few residential buildings in the area, the ruptured pipeline supplies portable water to hospitals like Tata Memorial, KEM, Wadia Maternity and Children, as well as Haffkine Institute. Civic officials said that water supply was affected in areas between Parel and Byculla due to the incident following which water tankers were ordered.
The work of erecting a guideway beam was in progress on E Moses Road near Tata Memorial Hospital when the incident occurred. The crane was manoeuvring the heavy beam that was to be erected for constructing one of the structures for the 11.3-km-long Phase II of monorail between Wadala and Jacob Circle.
MMRDA officials said the crane was in motion when the road’s surface gave away, and the entire weight of the crane fell on the pipeline. “The load of the 90-tonne crane proved too much for the pipeline, which was not encased,” said Dilip Kawathkar, chief spokesperson, MMRDA.
Sources in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said its officials from the Hydraulic department reached the spot within 15 minutes of the incident. “We immediately began controlling the water flow and closing the valve. It took us a while to arrange manpower, and equipment to execute repair work,” said a BMC official.
Officials said approximately 1,000 litres of water was wasted in the incident. The repair work started at 8 am and was completed by 3 pm. A BMC official said, “It was a thick pipeline and we had to ensure that it didn’t rupture again.” Civic body officials are likely to send a letter to MMRDA officials asking them to explain the reasons for such a mishap.
Fact file
Till date, 54 per cent of the civil work on the Phase II has been completed in which 63 per cent of piles and 43 per cent of pile caps have been erected
There is no set deadline for completing work of Phase II that would pass over tracks near Wadala and Curry Road station
Phase I between Wadala and Chembur is expected to be ready by this year following which trial runs would begin
Rs 2,700 crore
Construction cost of the Jacob Circle-Wadala-Chembur (JWC) monorail corridor
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