Soil Bearing Capacity test conducted; Reveals presence of a variety of soil

Mysore/Mysuru: Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has to spend an estimated Rs. 70 crore to re-build the iconic Devaraja Urs Market in city.

A portion of the market caved-in a few years ago purportedly due to lack of maintenance. Since then there has been a raging debate whether the fallen portion should be rebuilt or the whole structure has to be demolished to have a new structure. 

Citizens concerned towards the protection of heritage buildings in the city have been pressurising the State Government to take up the repair works of the caved-in portion instead of building a new structure. This had necessitated the MCC to go in for the soil testing to know the condition of existing structure before taking any decision.

Accordingly, the Soil Bearing Capacity (SBC) test was conducted at National Institute of Engineering (NIE) by taking the soil samples from three different places on Aug. 21. The test has revealed presence of a variety of soil. According to the report, there is soft stone (hard soil) behind Bombay Tiffanys near Dhanvantri Road, loose soil near Auto Stand and plenty of underground water at the Market entrance near Dufferin Clock Tower.

C. Manjunath, Development Officer, Zone No. 6 of MCC, told Star of Mysore: “there will be no problem for the market re-construction where there is hard soil. But they have to take precaution where there is loose soil and water point. This may cause an additional expenditure of 20 percent to 30 percent. First and foremost, they need to strengthen the loose soil spot and construct a drain to drain out the underground water. The work will take more time because of the varieties of soil and huge volume of water found underneath.”

He said that a proposal to rebuild the Market will be sent to the State Government for approval. Once it was okayed, the Corporation had to take up the soil testing in other places too as the type of soil is varying from one place to another, he added.

Gurudatta Hegde, Commissioner, MCC said we need at least Rs. 70 crore to rebuild Devaraja Market. Already, members of Heritage Committee have given the nod for re-building it. Now, Soil Bearing Capacity (SBC) report has revealed hidden problems at some places and they required additional funds to take up the work against all these odds. A detailed report including SBC report and revised estimate will be submitted to the State Government.