Bhubaneswar: Acting on the directives of the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, a team of three chief engineers will start an investigation into the collapse of an iron railing of the under-construction flyover at Bomikhal from Monday.
“”As per the instruction of the CM, a panel comprising chief engineer (roads), chief engineer (design) and chief engineer (buildings) will investigate the mishap and submit a detailed report to the state government as soon as possible,” a senior official of Works Department told Orissa POST here Sunday.
The team will undertake field visits to the site to find out the circumstances that led to the incident, which claimed the life of one labourer, while another was critically injured Thursday, the official (who requested anonymity) said, adding, “They will also find out whether the procedures and whether or not the SOP was followed during the work. who is liable for the mishap and other aspects.”
When asked about the scope of the investigation, one of the members of the probe panel said, “We will find out the reason behind the incident. Whether the agreement signed for executing the work was violated or not? Who is responsible for the incident?”
In its report, the team will
put down its observations and also make suggestions to avoid reoccurrence of such incidents in future, he said.
Asked about the deadline for submission of probe report, the member said, “As this incident was not like the earlier one (the one that occurred in September 2017), we will submit the report within a week. may be within next the four or five days.”
It is very likely that the contracting firm – Panda Infra Project Limited – will be removed from the project, as it has failed twice to ensure safety measures, let alone keeping to the deadline. The firm’s actions have invited criticisms from various quarters, which are holding the government responsible to the tragedies. So, the probe panel will also find out possible solutions to complete the work within the new deadline (end of June 2018), official sources said.
However, the blacklisted construction firm will continue to work at the other projects awarded to it at Jatni, Pokhariput, etc., they said.
Two major incidents took place before completion of the flyover simply because of the negligence and carelessness of the contractor. In first incident, which occurred September 10 last year, one person was killed, while at least 11 others were injured. In the second incident that took place May 3, one labourer was killed and another injured.