Big fish appear to have escaped blame for fatal subway accident.
Contrary to the Chief Minister’s instructions, the chief engineer in charge of the construction works for Package 1 (Benniganahalli-Kempapura) of the KR Puram-Airport Metro Line was not named in the FIR registered by the police about the incident.
A well-placed source in the state government said the Prime Minister had ordered all those responsible, including the chief engineer responsible at Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), to be prosecuted over the terrible tragedy.
However, the police only booked Deputy Chief Engineer Venkatesh Shetty, Executive Engineer Mahesh Bandekari and Joint Engineer Jaffer Sadiq. The chief engineer and other senior officials were not named in the FIR.
Police say they walked past a BMRCL list. The BMRCL only suspended the persons named in the FIR.
The 38.44 km KR Puram Airport line will be built in three packages – 11 km Benniganahalli-Kempapura, 11.68 km Kempapura-Bagalur Cross and 15.01 km Doddajala-Airport. A chief engineer is responsible for a package.
The subway pier under construction (number 218) which buckled and fell down resulting in the fatal accident is located in Package 1 (Benniganahalli-Kempapura).
The BMRCL assembled an in-house technical team of three to investigate the cause of the accident. The team consists of chief engineers from the quality, safety and labor departments. The report is expected in two days.
The Civil Engineering Department of the Indian Institute of Science has also been asked to independently investigate the incident and issue a report.
Nagarjuna Constructions Company (NCC) Limited, the contractor for the airport line, has also come under criticism. The Hyderabad-based construction major has yet to issue a statement on the incident or respond to media inquiries.
The airport line is the company’s second subway contract in Bengaluru. The first was the design and construction of viaducts for the 3.6 km extension of Reach 4 (Yelachenahalli-Anjanapura). 7,220 meters of prefabricated parapets were poured and erected. The line is already in operation.
Although the victim’s family has called for the company to be blacklisted, the government source said action was unlikely given the importance of the airport subway line. Cancellation of the tender is also out of the question. The company can get away with fines.
In Bengaluru, NCC Ltd also built the Electronics City flyover, several TTMCs (Traffic Transit Management Centers) for the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and a two-storey height separator near Nayandahalli. It also won subway contracts in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur.