M Raghuram/The Hindu

• Contractors not to give warranty on road if rules are flouted 

Bangalore, May 15: With the deadline for opening the Shiradi Ghat section, between Sakleshpur and Gundia on National Highway 48 for traffic just a fortnight away, contractors who have carried out the repair and relaying work on this stretch are not ready to give any warranty on the longevity of the road. They first want the government to control the overloading of trucks that carry iron and manganese ore to the New Mangalore Port. According to the contract, the road builder must provide a one-year warranty on the quality of the road from the date of completion. If the road is damaged within that period, the builder has to repair it at his cost.

The Shiradi Ghat section was closed for traffic in October 2007 following the erosion of the road due to heavy movement of laden trucks. This sector is now getting ready for the re-opening which has been tentatively set for the first week of June. The State National Highways has completed the work at a cost of Rs. 36 crore, for a distance of 35 km. Ramesh Kumar Kottari a contractor who carried out part of the work on the stretch told The Hindu that he and two other contractors were ready to give the warranty provided the government adheres to the recommendations of the Indian Road Congress on overloading. “According to the recommendations, a truck with six wheels can carry up to 10 tonnes and a truck with 10 wheels can carry up to 16 tonnes. But the transport authorities were allowing them to carry 40 tonnes,” he said.

Sudhir Krishna, Principal Secretary, Public Works Department, said: “Overloading is a universal problem; all roads in the State are being eroded due to overloading. The only way to stop it is by strictly enforcing the loading discipline. The PWD has issued circulars to all Deputy Commissioners of all districts in the State to adopt zero tolerance levels towards overloading,”

Paper

A paper by Balabhaskara Reddy, senior structural engineer, and A.Veeraraghavan of Bangalore University, entitled “Effects of overloading and introduction of tandem-axle trucks on pavement life”, highlights the structural damage to a pavement system caused by overloaded commercial vehicles.

The paper says overloading of trucks has assumed menacing proportions in the country. The structural adequacy of the pavement on National Highways is inadequate to withstand the increased magnitude of axle loads. The multi-axle vehicles reduce the impact of motion on the road and distribute the weight of the vehicle and the load, evenly.