The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Stiff penalty suggested for flyover accident

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 28, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Stiff penalty suggested for flyover accident

Special Correspondent

Gammon India must pay 10 per cent
of project cost,
says panel
Tanikella, Tandon must pay 10
per cent of agreement amount

HYDERABAD: The five-member committee that inquired into the Punjagutta road flyover accident said that “lack of engineering judgment” about the soil strength by four agencies, including the contractor Gammon India, was responsible for the disaster on September 9, when two persons were killed and seven others injured.

The other agencies named by the committee of experts headed by K. Siva Reddy, engineer-in-chief, Roads & Buildings, were Tanikella Integrated Consultants and Tandon Consultants, both consultant engineers of Gammon India, and Hyderabad Metro Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWSSB). The 157-page inquiry report was submitted by Mr. Siva Reddy to Municipal Administration Minister Koneru Ranga Rao here on Thursday. The report also held the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) “morally responsible” for the incident by not ensuring proper filling and compaction of the trench dug by the HMWSSB for laying an 800-mm pipeline from Vengala Rao Park to the Punjagutta Junction.

Recommending a stiff penalty on Gammon India, the committee suggested that it pay 10 per cent of the project cost of Rs. 28.9 crore, apart from bearing the cost for the loss of properties, private and public (cars, autorickshaws and compensation for deaths and injuries). It also recommended that Tanikella and Tandon pay 10 per cent of the total agreement amount as penalty. In the case of HMWSSB and the GHMC, it recommended disciplinary action against the officials connected with the execution of the project.

Recalling that three engineers had already been suspended, the Minister said disciplinary action would be taken against other officials of GHMC and HMWSSB if the inquiry committee found them guilty.

He said the criminal case registered by the police would, however, continue. The inquiry committee stated that it was the “temporary supporting system [scaffolding] and eight pre-cast segments [which were not pre-stressed and glued], that collapsed while the main structure remained intact.”

The committee approved the site for resumption of the flyover construction work and opening of the adjacent roads for traffic, but suggested strict quality checks.

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