Rs. 52 Crore Cost Includes Demolition and Rebuilding; Previous Contractor to Cover Expense, Sanghavi Clarifies on Ahmedabad Hatkeshwar Flyover

September 14, 2024

Gandhinagar: A flyover constructed in Ahmedabad for Rs. 42 crore is reported to have a demolition cost of Rs. 52 crore. A media house published such a news report and number of social media handles shared it on Friday. However, Minister Harsh Sanghavi strongly refuted the report, shared the facts and schooled the media house in a post on micro blogging site X (previously Twitter).

The news report pertained to the Hatkeshwar overbridge in Ahmedabad. The Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has built dozens of flyovers and underbridges in recent years, but this particular flyover at Hatkeshwar was declared unfit for use and closed to traffic soon after its inauguration due to poor construction quality by a private firm. The AMC filed a case against the contractor firm and after detailed fitness checks of the bridge, the AMC repeatedly floated tenders for the demolition of the bridge to replace it with a new one. Finally, a party from Rajasthan submitted a bid and won the contract.

A news report in Aaj Tak claimed that the bridge was constructed for Rs. 42 crore, but the cost of its demolition would be Rs. 52 crore. MoS Harsh Sanghavi clarified in a tweet that the Rs. 52 crore cost includes both the demolition and rebuilding of the bridge and it is not just the demolition cost as falsely reported in the news story. Sanghavi also added that the cost of constructing the new bridge will be recovered from the contractor who built the faulty bridge previously. Sanghavi further remarked that a responsible and leading news channel should verify the facts before publishing.

Earlier, on Friday, Sanghvi reacted to the Congress party’s tweet spreading misinformation about the bridge, in which the MoS said, “Listen Liar Gang!! Liar Gang Congress, claiming that the government is going to incur a cost of Rs. 52 cr for the demolition of Hatkeshwar bridge in Ahmedabad, is misleading. Fact: Rs. 52 crore is the combine cost of demolishing of the old bridge and constructing of the new one. The amount of building the new bridge will be recovered from the contractor who built the old one.”

The controversial bridge was built by Ajay Engineering Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (AEIPL), and in May last year, four directors of the company were arrested. The four directors Rashik Patel, Ramesh Patel, Chirag Patel, and Kalpesh Patel were apprehended in connection with a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy related to the substandard construction quality of the flyover. Their arrest followed a complaint filed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). In addition to the chairman and directors of AEIPL, the FIR filed by the civic body also named four individuals from the project management consultant, SGS India Private Limited.  DeshGujarat

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