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Mishap at Metro site: two workers hurt

Staff Reporter

A steel cage of a pillar under construction came down at Indiranagar

Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Precarious: The steel cage for one of the pillars of the Metro Station on CMH Road, Bangalore, which gave way on Monday. —

BANGALORE: A steel cage of a pillar under construction for the Namma Metro civil works on CMH Road, came down on Monday morning, raising questions on the quality of work being executed, even as the memories of the Delhi Metro mishap that claimed six lives recently are fresh.

While two workers suffered minor injuries, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd., (BMRCL) played down the incident as a “handling error.” Two workers who were engaged in lapping work (strengthening the steel cage) of the reinforcement must have climbed to a height more than required, bending the reinforcement, a BMRCL spokesperson said.

The incident occurred at around 11.30 a.m., at the CMH Road Station. The steel cage of the pillar under construction bent and nearly touched the ground while the two workers, Lakwendra Nayak and Beerhain, sustained minor injuries.

A release from BMRCL said that while one worker had skin abrasions and minor cuts on both hands, the other had abrasions on one leg. Both were treated as outpatients at the Chinmaya Mission Hospital and were discharged within an hour of treatment. They have returned to work, it added.

However, BMRCL’s claims appear superficial even for a layman after looking at the site. It appears impossible for two men to bring down the heavy steel reinforcement that almost touched the ground, felt the structural engineers whom The Hindu spoke to. They felt there could be something more than what met the eye, as the heavy reinforcements were bound by stirrups.

The BMRCL spokesperson, however, reiterated that it was only a handling error and not related to matters of design.

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