Date:25/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/25/stories/2008092560470300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Vijayanagar underpass contractor faces action

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The preliminary investigation into the collapse of Vijayanagar junction underpass on Tuesday has revealed the negligence of ECC, the construction company that is executing the project, sources said.

According to sources, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has taken serious note of Tuesday’s incident and the BDA Commissioner Siddappa chaired a high-level meeting in this regard. The Commissioner inspected the spot and interacted with the workers.

The BDA will decide about taking action against the company, and the company had been asked to bear all medical expenses of the injured workers, BDA Engineer Member B. Shivashankar told The Hindu. “On Tuesday night three labourers were injured in the incident that occurred near the Chord Road junction.

Worker discharged

“Among them Shrikant (28), a worker from Orissa, was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday.

“The other two injured workers, Umar Farooq Ali (29), a consultant engineer from Stup Consultants and M. Bhattacharya (44) from Grips India Ltd., are recovering in private hospitals and they are all out of danger”, he said.

Meanwhile, the underpass work continued on Wednesday and the BDA officials asked the ECC authorities to take proper care to prevent such incidents in future.