Delhi govt sends report on foot overbridge fiasco to Centre

Delhi govt has referred to Union Urban Development Ministry for "appropriate action" the report of inquiry into collapse of a foot overbridge outside Jawaharlal Nehru stadium just days before commencement of Commonwealth Games .

New Delhi: Delhi Government has referred
to Union Urban Development Ministry for "appropriate action"
the report of inquiry into collapse of a foot overbridge
outside Jawaharlal Nehru stadium just days before commencement
of Commonwealth Games which caused a major embarrassment to
the country.
"We have sent the report of the inquiry committee to
Union Urban Development Ministry for appropriate action," a
top Delhi Government official told agency.

The official said the report has been referred to
Urban Development Ministry as the engineers who supervised the
project had come from CPWD on deputation to Delhi government.
The CPWD functions under the union ministry.

The 95-metre-long under-construction foot overbridge
had come crashing down on September 21, injuring 27 people and
causing a major embarrassment to the country in the run-up to
the mega sporting event. The army had later built a temporary
Bailey bridge which was removed after the Games.

The over Rs 5-crore project was contracted to private
firm P and R Infraprojects Ltd by PWD. The company was
blacklisted by the city government after the incident.

The city government has also requested the Urban
Development Ministry to carry out detailed investigation on
the technical aspects of the bridge collapse saying it does
not have proper expertise to do it.
Asked whether punitive action will follow against
those engineers who supervised the project, another official
said the "guilty must be punished."

"We are for stringent action against those found
guilty for supervisory failures in executing the project. If
there are technical issues, then help of Chief Technical
Examination Wing of Central Vigilance Committee can also be
taken," the official said.

The two-member probe panel headed by former CPWD
director general H S Dogra had blamed the faulty construction
methodology adopted by the contractor and held the public
works department (PWD) responsible for supervisory failure.

The panel had also blamed UK-based M/s Macalloy,
which supplied parts for the structure, for design constraints
in the materials supplied by the firm.

The city government, which was sitting over the Dogra
Committee report for almost five months, has sent it to the
Urban Development Ministry just two weeks after the
PM-appointed Shunglu Committee made public its report on city
infrastructure projects.

The Shunglu committee had found irregularities in
several CWG projects implemented by the city government and
had blamed Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for the alleged
inadequacies.

PTI

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