In the wee hours of Monday, a portion of the arterial stretch of road just in front of Puratchi thalaivar Dr MG Ramachandran Central Railway station caved in, causing traffic snarls in the area. The cave-in happened at the spot where Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL)’s construction work is going on.
According to reports, officials from the CMRL attributed the cave-in to an overloaded container truck that passed over the spot at that time. The truck which weighed around 90 tonnes, as against the allowed weight of 49 tonnes, was going towards the Central station from Chennai Port Trust around 1 am on Monday. The CMRL subway is under construction at below the portion of the road that caved in and hence there were a lot of metal planks under the road. Nobody was injured in the incident as workers were not present below the cave-in spot at that time. Following this, traffic was diverted in and around the spot by the Chennai city traffic police.
#ChennaiTrafficUpdates
— Greater Chennai Traffic Police (@ChennaiTraffic) October 26, 2020
Due to ongoing Emergency work in Central Junction, the following diversions to be in place at EVR Salai. The public is requested to follow road diversions and plan ahead.#GCTP #GCTP_Cares#ChennaiTrafficPolice pic.twitter.com/0FO3E13Z6w
The police have booked the truck driver for overloading the vehicle above the permissible limits and under the IPC for negligent driving. He was arrested and released on station bail. The vehicle was going to Poonamallee from Chennai Port and reportedly did not have the necessary permissions to operate within the city limits as it was carrying such a heavy load. The police also told New Indian Express that if the truck driver had gotten prior permission to operate with such heavy load, then an alternate route would have been suggested and this incident could have been avoided. Since the truck was covered, the policeman on duty also had thought that it was an empty one since it was usual for empty trucks to return on this route, after unloading at the Chennai Port.
The traffic around the spot is expected to resume by Monday evening, as per the police.