Uttara girder accident: Authorities focused on passing the buck

Following the shocking incident of a girder falling on a car killing five in the capital, authorities have now begun to engage in their favourite game of musical chairs to skirt the blame.

On Tuesday morning, while visiting the incident spot in Uttara, Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam said the construction work of the Bus Rapid Transit-3 Elevated Expressway will remain suspended until all necessary safety measures are ensured.

The question then is why they were not ensured before the loss of the lives, including those of two children.

"The BRT project lacks even minimum safety measures. As a result, accidents are occurring frequently, increasing public suffering. Development works cannot be allowed to continue like this. The safety of the citizens must be ensured first," Atiqul said.

"There must be some agreements about safety measures, they [contractors and authorities] have been breaching the rules since the beginning of the projects, leading to the five deaths," the mayor said.

"Several development projects, such as the BRT and Metro Rail, are currently ongoing in Dhaka. All project directors have been asked to join a meeting with Dhaka North on Thursday. 

"Development works can resume only after proper safety and security are ensured," the mayor added.

When journalists asked why the risky construction was not halted before the tragic death, no answer was forthcoming.

Even the Dhaka Metropolitan Police officials have no answers. The police had not shut the risky road, while parking on the roads forced other vehicles to travel near the cranes and girders.

DMP's Uttara Division Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Morshed Alam told The Business Standard that they were not aware of the girder transfer at the time.

During a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed to take action against those responsible for the Uttara crane accident.

"The project director and consultants/contractors can't avoid responsibility," PM Hasina said.

During a press briefing after the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan, quoting the PM, said, "Everyone from the project manager to the contractor will be brought under investigation. Those responsible must be punished."

What authorities say

Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Co Ltd (DBRTCL) Managing Director Shafiqul Islam said the contractor company is responsible for the accident.

However, the BRT managing director said the construction work was supposed to be halted on 15 August as it was a holiday, so the BRT did not know anything about the girder being moved.

The Chinese contractor can be held responsible for the accident, he told the media after visiting the spot.

The contractor Jianshu Provincial Transportation and Group Co Ltd China (JGCC) is responsible for the death of five passengers of a car and they have repeatedly breached security, Neelima Akhter, chief additional secretary of the investigation committee formed over the Uttara incident, said, adding the the Chinese embassy in Dhaka will be informed about this.

Briefing reporters on Tuesday, she said, "Our investigation report has said that they [contractors] have violated the safety issue many times, adding that everything will be scrutinised and they weren't skirting their own responsibility by blaming the Chinese company.

The additional secretary also said since the work was nearly 80% complete, selecting a new contractor would result in more sufferings.

Earlier, Road Transport and Highways Department Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Noori faced the media at the Secretariat with the initial report of the investigation committee.

He said for such a big loss, only a fine cannot be imposed. If maximum action is taken, then the contractor's licence can be revoked, preventing them from working in Bangladesh again. For this, however, they needed to wait for the final report.

He said the contractor should not work on holidays and not work without safety measures. 

If they want to work according to the rules, they will give a work plan the day before. Yesterday the contractor did the work without submitting a work plan. Under no circumstances should such work be done without security measures in place," he said.