'Gross negligence' by DMRC officials caused girder collapse: GDA report

Ghaziabad: GDA vice-chairperson Ritu Maheshwari has written to the principal secretary of the housing and urban planning department, saying it was negligence on the part of DMRC that caused the 30-foot-long girder to fall on the GT Road on Monday, injuring seven persons.
Maheshwari said her letter was based on findings of an internal committee set up by her to probe the cause of the accident. The report has apparently mentioned DMRC’s chief engineer, deputy chief engineer, assistant engineer and one more official as those responsible for accident. The GDA vice-chairperson, in her letter, has recommended action against all these officials.

“An internal probe committee was set up by the GDA vice-chairperson and it has submitted its report,” said VN Singh, chief engineer, GDA. “The members of the probe committee visited the site and questioned DMRC officials. They concluded that the nuts and bolts were not fixed properly, which caused the girder to collapse,” he added.

The report apparently said though DMRC had conducted an inspection of the Mohan Nagar metro station around 6am on Monday, they failed to spot the “fault” at the intersection where the girder was placed. The committee has mentioned “gross negligence” on the part of the DMRC engineers.

DMRC released a statement later on Wednesday evening, saying the GDA report was factually incorrect and not based on any technical examination. The statement said DMRC was conducting its own inquiry..