BMRCL suspends 3 engineers day after woman, son killed in pillar collapse

BENGALURU: A day after the horrific incident in which a woman and her son were killed after an under-construction Metro pillar collapsed on them, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) has suspended three senior engineers, Managing Director Anjum Pervez said on Wednesday.

The suspended officials are Deputy Chief Engineer Venkatesh Shetty, Executive Engineer Mahesh Bendigeri and Section Engineer Jaffer Sadiq.

All work was suspended on Wednesday.

A notice has also been issued to the contractor Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd. (NCC) management seeking a detailed report within three days on how the under-construction pillar collapsed. On Tuesday too, the BMRCL chief engineer issued a notice to the company seeking a report, Anjum Pervez said.

Rejecting allegations of substandard work, he insisted that BMRCL does not compromise on quality of work. “The reinforcement cage was held in place by four guy wires of which one of them snapped, causing it to fall. We are investigating how that happened”, he added. On whether the contractor will be blacklisted, he said they will decide on it once the report is submitted.

Metro MD Anjum Pervez denied all allegations of substandard work.

The BMRCL will submit a preliminary report to both the state and central government on how the tragedy occurred, by Wednesday evening and the action initiated after the pillar collapsed. Union Urban Development Ministry officials also called the Metro MD on Wednesday and have sought a report on the incident.

Audit teams conducted inspection of the mishap site on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a BMRCL safety team visited the accident site on Wednesday and is also seeking information from the contractor. An road safety audit team from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) civil engineering wing, Executive Engineer Jayasimha also inspected the spot. A team from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is also expected to visit the mishap site and submit a report.