Action will be taken if e-way mishap probe finds anything amiss: Dushyant Chautala

Six days after a portion of the elevated road being constructed as part of the Dwarka Expressway in Gurgaon collapsed, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said “strict action will be taken” against persons concerned if the probe into the matter finds any “irregularities”.

Speaking after inaugurating a four-lane flyover constructed near Bandhwari on Gurgaon-Faridabad road, Chautala said, “Construction is still underway on the Dwarka Expressway and such incidents can happen in this situation. NHAI has taken cognizance of this and formed a 10-member panel which will submit its report in 10 days. If any irregularities are found, strict action will be taken against officials concerned. Even prior to this, such an incident had happened on the Gurgaon-Alwar expressway and the NHAI had taken cognizance of that as well and taken immediate action.”

Around 7.30 am on March 28, a section of an elevated road that is part of Dwarka Expressway collapsed near Daultabad Chowk, injuring three labourers.

NHAI officials had said “an expert committee” would be constituted to ascertain “the reason of failure leading to the accident”. The Authority had also suspended “concerned key personnel” of the contractor and supervision consultant pending the outcome of the investigation.

The four-lane flyover that Chautala inaugurated has been built at a cost of around Rs 11.5 crore. The structure is 514 metres long and 21 metres wide and has been completed in 21 months.

At the event, Chautala also responded to questions on the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, which received the Governor’s assent last month. “The law to provide 75% employment opportunities in private companies for youth of the state will come into force from May 1. Before bringing in this law, we had 8 stages of meetings with industry persons and also took their suggestions in writing… No law is perfect from the first day, there tends to be room for improvement in it,” he said.

Among the suggestions received from industry representatives, Chautala said, were those to make the salary slab up to which such a reservation is required equal to the pay grade of a JE in a government job instead of the current slab of Rs 50,000. This suggestion, the Deputy CM said, is under consideration.

“Another suggestion was that technical posts in industries of private entities which require a specific skill set be excluded from the Act. We have already made a provision in the Act that technical skill posts be exempted. The jobs of watchmen, peons, or other jobs which do not require technical skills, if any employment is created in these after May 1, if it is in a new industry or an operational industry, then out of every four jobs, three will see the participation of youth from Haryana,” he said.

On the incident in Hisar on Thursday, when protesting farmers forced Chautala to travel a distance of only 8 km by helicopter, he said, “Everyone has a right to protest peacefully. We don’t want a confrontation with farmers. Our aim is to give the farmer a reasonable price for his crop on time, and to ensure the amount goes directly to his account.”