Probe and enforce accountability

The death of a young mother and her child after the reinforced cage of an under-construction Namma Metro pier fell on them in Bengaluru on Tuesday has put the spotlight on the safety standards followed by Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) and its private contractors – in this case, the Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC). Lohit Kumar V Sulakhe and his wife Tejaswini (28), a software professional, were on their two-wheeler to drop off their two-year-old twins to a playschool when the 12-m high structure fell on them. Tejaswini and the couple’s son Vihan died on the spot while Lohit Kumar and their daughter survived with injuries. On the face of it, the cage fell after one of the four metal harnesses around it snapped. It points to a likely engineering miscalculation or the use of sub-standard material. The BMRCL has instituted an internal inquiry committee as well as sought an independent probe by experts from IISc, Bengaluru. A police investigation has also been ordered and an FIR filed against the contractor and some BMRCL officials.

This is not the first accident at a metro construction site. Only in the last few months, two incidents are known to have taken place. One, in late November, was reported at the metro construction site in Iblur, and another went unreported on the same K R Puram line on which Tuesday’s tragedy occurred. As there was no loss of life in these incidents, BMRCL and metro contractors seem to have failed to learn lessons from them. Citizens have also pointed out ‘dangling pillars’ and other hazards in the past. BMRCL must wake up at least now and undertake an audit of safety practices and reporting. While the spotlight is being shone on the deaths of civilians not connected with the metro project, a number of labourers working on it have died over the years but not enough attention has been paid to those deaths and their causes for them.

Accountability must be thoroughly enforced, especially given the recent incidents before Tuesday’s tragedy. Were they covered up at lower levels so that BMRCL’s top management was not aware of them? Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has said that the FIR must be registered against the chief of the private contractor, NCC, and senior officials, and not just against lower and mid-level officials. Yet, the FIR names only lower and mid-level officials and does not even reach up to the Chief Engineer and Project Engineer levels, let alone Managing Director Anjum Parvez. Does BMRCL have a reporting system that ensures that every safety-related incident is brought to the notice of the Managing Director? If yes, then the buck stops at him. If not, then he should institute such a reporting system immediately, and make public these reports every month along with the metro progress report.