New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Friday said it is carrying out a “comprehensive inspection” of its physical assets on all its corridors to ensure that unusual incidents like the recent one at Gokulpuri are avoided in future.
A 53-year-old man lost his life and four people were injured when a portion of a wall of the elevated Gokalpuri Metro Station on the Pink Line in northeast Delhi had collapsed on February 8.
The Pink Line connects Majlis Park and Shiv Vihar metro stations.
The DMRC in a statement said as part of this inspection exercise, a total of 26 elevated stations on the Pink Line are being inspected under the supervision of senior officials.
“During these inspections, vital components such as drains, removal and cleaning of drain covers, adjacent parapets are being thoroughly checked. According to the preliminary assessment, necessary repair work shall be carried out at the earliest on a priority basis. In addition, wherever loose concrete or plaster is being noticed on any structure of the DMRC network, immediate repair work is being done,” it said.
It is also pertinent to mention that “such wear and tear on the civil structures is a routine process due to weather changes and the DMRC teams operate regularly to fix such issues”, it said.
However, in the context of the recent incident, such repair works are being done round-the-clock across the network, officials said.
Furthermore, as part of these maintenance inspections, the DMRC had already started thorough checks on the fittings and pipes (specifically the drain pipes) of all the Metro stations and as a precautionary measure, the DMRC has started securing these iron pipes with clamps on priority basis, the statement said.
“Any signs of wear and tear on these pipes may not be easily visible to the naked eye because of their location. Subsequently, these pipes will also be replaced with more durable and easy to maintain uPVC pipes,” it added.
“Unfortunately, even as these repair works were in progress, a portion of such a drain pipe adjacent to the viaduct at Subhash Nagar (metro station) fell on a road below on the evening of February 14, bruising one woman passerby. She was immediately sent to the nearest hospital accompanied by DMRC staff for medical assistance and presently recovering with no major injuries,” the statement said. PTI KND CK
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