Contrary to CM's directive, chief engineer in charge of Bengaluru metro work not named in FIR

DCP Bheemashankar S Guled (East) visits the metro accident site in HBR Layout along with officials from IISc and the labour department. Credit: Special Arrangement

Big fish seem to have escaped culpability for the deadly metro accident.

Contrary to the chief minister’s instructions, the chief engineer in charge of civil construction work for package 1 (Benniganahalli-Kempapura) of the KR Puram-airport metro line has not been named in the FIR that the police registered over the incident.

A well-placed source in the state government said the chief minister had ordered that all those responsible, including the in-charge chief engineer from the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), should be prosecuted for the horrific tragedy.

However, police have booked only deputy chief engineer Venkatesh Shetty, executive engineer Mahesh Bandekari and joint engineer Jaffer Sadiq. The chief engineer and other higher officials have not been named in the FIR.

Police say they went by a BMRCL list. The BMRCL has suspended only those named in the FIR.

The 38.44-km KR Puram airport line is being constructed in three packages — 11-km Benniganahalli-Kempapura, 11.68-km Kempapura-Bagalur Cross, and 15.01-km Doddajala-airport. A chief engineer is in charge of one package.

The under-construction metro pier (number 218) that buckled and fell, leading to the deadly accident, is located in Package 1 (Benniganahalli-Kempapura).

The BMRCL has constituted a three-member internal technical team to investigate the cause of the accident. The team consists of chief engineers from the quality, safety and work departments. The report is expected in two days.

The Indian Institute of Science’s civil engineering department has also been requested to independently investigate the incident and give a report.

Nagarjuna Constructions Company (NCC) Limited, the contractor for the airport line, has also come under criticism. The Hyderabad-based construction major is yet to issue a statement on the incident or respond to media queries.

The airport line is the company’s second metro contract in Bengaluru. The first was the design and construction of viaducts for the 3.6-km extension of Reach 4 (Yelachenahalli-Anjanapura). That work involved casting and erecting 7,220 metres of precast parapets. The line is already operational.

Although the victims’ family has demanded that the company be blacklisted, the government source said that action was unlikely given the importance of the airport metro line. Cancelling the tender is also out of question. The company may get away with financial penalties.

In Bengaluru, NCC Ltd also built the Electronics City flyover, several TTMCs (Traffic Transit Management Centers) for the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and a two-level grade separator near Nayandahalli. It also won metro contracts in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur.