Thiruvananthapuram: The Medical College Hospital that sits atop a hillock has had land caving in on its periphery. Officials will introduce soil nailing to fix the caving in of land near PIPMS Hostel inside the campus. Minister K.K. Shailaja on Thursday visited this caved in portion next to the Medical College Principal’s office. Soil from around 40 feet height got eroded and the wall of the hostel collapsed recently during rains. The landmass fell into the premises of a house located on a lower elevation.
The manhole pipe has also been washed off and some of it has got exposed. “The erosion has been threatening the life of students as well as nearby residents. Around Rs 1.6 crore will be released and administrative sanction has been given for the work and will begin by the PWD soon,” minister Shailaja said. The new soil nailing technology involves screwing of a mesh deep into the soil using long nails and they are then concretised. This is a more cost effective construction compared to the normal gravity walls in reinforcing steep landmass. Around Rs 11 lakh has been earmarked to repair exposed pipelines in this area.
