Cracks develop as overloaded trucks let pass over it

A crack across the width of the north lanes of Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge is visible on the foreground while the expansion joint that had been disjointed on November 18 last year is seen half mended behind the crack, the photo was taken a few days after the expansion joint had come apart. Photo: STAR

A syndicate of Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge (JMB) employees and police guards have been allowing overweight vehicles to pass over the bridge in exchange for bribes for a long time, contributing to development of cracks on its surface.
Four police officials including the officer-in-charge (OC) of JMB East police station were closed and an employee of Marganet One, the company responsible for operation and maintenance of the bridge, were arrested since Saturday from the weigh stations at the bridge in connection with the bribery scandal.
Saying that letting overweight vehicles get on the bridge contributed to the development of cracks, an official of Bangladesh Bridge Authority yesterday said they do not have an adequate number of staff to monitor the management firm's activities.
Although the bridge authorities had fixed the weight limit at 25 tons for consumer product laden vehicles and 21 tons for other vehicles, over 100 goods laden trucks weighing 30 to 35 tons used to pass over the bridge daily, bribing the employees of the weigh stations and the police guards stationed there, until the bribery scandal came to light, sources said.
On Saturday, Sub-inspector (SI) Akkas and Constable Razzak of the same police station were closed after intelligence officials had caught them red handed while they were allowing an overweight goods laden truck to get on the bridge at the east end weight station in exchange for a bribe of Tk 400.
Law enforcers from JMB West police station arrested Marganet One employee Shahidul Islam, a signalman at the west end weigh station of JMB, a day later as he had let an overweight goods laden truck to get on the bridge taking Tk 1,400 as a bribe.
The weigh stations equipped with brand new machinery interestingly have been 'malfunctioning' quite often since the start of their operation.
Tangail Superindent of Police (SP) Abdul Mannan on Monday directed to close Manjur Morshed, the OC of JMB East police station, and its SI Shahabuddin, to the Police Lines due to different allegations against them including negligence in duty.
Wahiduzzaman, an assistant engineer of the bridge authority, has been responsible for monitoring the activities at the weigh stations operated by Marganet One, a duty he has not been carrying out properly, according to sources.
He was also involved with the malpractices at the weigh stations, the sources alleged.
Refuting the allegations, engineer Wahiduzzaman told The Daily Star that the responsibility is of the law enforcement agencies to check the malpractices at the weigh stations.
Rampant ascent on the bridge of overweight vehicles has been causing development of cracks on it. The cracks on the bridge which are between 0.1mm and 0.5mm in width have been widening by the day, sources in the bridge authority said.
The cracks on JMB, which was constructed in 1998 at a cost of Tk 4,000 crore, came in discussion in March, 2006 when several long cracks were found on its north lanes.
A probe committee, led by Dr Jamilur Reza Chowdhury to find out the reasons behind the cracks, said in its report that a flawed design of the bridge, rampant ascent of overweight vehicles on it, and lack of regular and proper maintenance are the reasons behind the cracks, the bridge authority sources said.
Overweight trains running over the bridge also played a role in development of the cracks since there was no plan of train tracks running over it in the original design, according to experts.
A South African company, Jomac, had the initial responsibility of operating and maintaining the bridge, later, Marganet One, a joint company of Bangladesh and Indonesia, was given the responsibility in 2004.
Marganet One officials could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts. However, an official of the company said in condition of anonymity that the arrest of one of their staff proves some of them were involved in the alleged malpractices.
Saying that ascent of overweight vehicles onto a bridge is very harmful for it and contributes to development of cracks, an engineer of Bangladesh Bridge Authority told The Daily Star that overweight vehicles should not even be allowed on the ramps of a bridge.
Only three assistant engineers are currently responsible to monitor toll collection, maintenance, ramps, and the adjacent land, he said.
"Only three people, no matter how expert they are, can't carry out such a huge task. Although they pay surprise visits, it is not possible for them to continuously monitor the activities of about 400 staff of Marganet One."
Saying that it is in no way acceptable that overweight vehicles get on the bridge, Director (Admin) Masud Elahi of Bangladesh Bridge Authority told The Daily Star over the phone on Tuesday that he did not receive any complaint of letting overweight vehicles onto the bridge in exchange for bribes. He, however, said he heard that such allegations are there.