Ghat structure collapse: Probe nails contractor, builder co, engineer

Varanasi: With confirmation of laxity by contractor, construction firm and engineer concerned in the Sep 12 incident, in which a new stone structure collapsed at Ramnagar Ghat, resulting in death of one labourer and a pet dog, district magistrate S Rajalingam recommended action by higher authorities in the irrigation department.
Following the incident, the DM had formed a team under ADM (City) Alok Kumar to probe into the incident at the new ghat construction project being carried out by UP Project Corporation Ltd.The investigation team, comprising executive engineer of PWD's construction division-1, executive engineer of irrigation and flood control division, assistant engineer of the District Rural Development Agency, project manager of UPPCL and deputy director (tourism), submitted its report to the DM.
Officials said the investigation report stated, "The stone canopy constructed at the work site was unstable due to poor craftsmanship, leading to the incident. Workmanship of the adhesive/filler material used to join the stones in the canopy was unsatisfactory. The grooves in the stones were not suitable for joining and clamps were not used."
The committee had sought approved drawings and designs from the technical institute related to the canopy from the officials concerned, but no such documents were provided to investigators by the executing agency. Two other octagonal canopies constructed at the site were also not found safe for public use by the team, said officials. Defects were observed in other parts of the structure at the site, indicating use of substandard materials by the contractor/firm and inadequate supervision by officials concerned.
Taking note of these facts, the DM recommended to the principal secretary of the irrigation department to initiate necessary action against the contractor, firm and officials concerned for negligence.
On Sep 13, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had expressed displeasure over the incident and issued strict directives to initiate all necessary measures to avoid the recurrence of such incidents in the future. He had also made it clear that there should be no compromise on quality of work.
After the CM's directives, UPPCL (Prayagraj) executive engineer, Dinesh Kumar, inspected the work site at the under construction ghat in Ramnagar and ordered suspension of assistant project manager Dilip Kumar and JE Renu of UPPCL Unit-3 Varanasi. He also ordered lodging of FIR against contractor Omprakash Pandey of Deepnagar Sonbhadra. He asked to halt work on all sites where Pandey's company had been awarded the contract and conduct a technical investigation by the technical audit committee to check the quality of the work.