MUMBAI: Four executives of a sub-contractor and an executive of a consultant firm have been arrested after a slab of the under-construction Metro line 4 collapsed, killing one person and injuring three others in Mulund on Saturday afternoon.
Four of the executives arrested are with Milan Road Buildtech, a firm sub-contracted by a consortium comprising Reliance Infrastructure Limited and Astaldi of Italy. They are: project director Harish Chauhan; project manager Kuldeep Sapkal; deputy project manager Saurab Singh; and supervisor Prashant Bhoir. The fifth individual arrested, Avdhoot Inamdar, is project manager at Hill International Inc.
The concrete slab toppled onto a moving autorickshaw, in which Ramdhan Yadav, the deceased, was travelling with two relatives, and a Skoda Kushaq, whose driver was injured. The accident took place near the Johnson & Johnson company and Mulund fire station on LBS Marg. The slab, measuring 6 ft x 4 ft and weighing a few hundred kilos, fell from pier P-196 in the mid-section of the elevated Metro-4 corridor, which extends from Wadala in Mumbai to Kasarvadavali in Thane.
Mumbaikars outraged
The incident triggered outrage across the city. Mumbaikars, frustrated by seemingly unending infra works, dug-up roads and poor safety standards, took to social media in large numbers to voice their anguish.
“We are a city building a metro and other infrastructure at colossal expense. And yet our bridges and metros are collapsing even before they are complete,” said Pranav Naik, urban planner and designer.
“The public at large has been relegated to survival mode and are lucky if they get home alive. Unless we really address this burning issue that nobody likes to talk about, many more of us will be at the receiving end of our politicians’ greed,” said Naik.
Soon after Saturday’s accident, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced an inquiry and ₹5 lakh assistance to the family of the deceased. He said the government would also bear the cost of treatment of the injured.
Who were the victims?
Among the injured was Deepa Ruhiya, 40, who was driving the Skoda, whose dashboard and bonnet were damaged in the accident. Ruhiya sustained minor injuries and was discharged from hospital within a few hours.
The other three involved in the accident, including the deceased, were related to each other. The autorickshaw driver Rajkumar Yadav, 45, in critical condition in hospital, is the brother-in-law of Mahendra Yadav, 52, the third occupant of the vehicle. The deceased, Ramdhan Yadav, 46, is an uncle.
Bystanders said the impact pinned Rajkumar inside the mangled rickshaw for nearly 30 minutes until a crane was brought in to lift the concrete slab. Brihaspati Giri, 32, one of the first responders said, “When we pulled out the body of the deceased, we realised he had probably bled to death. The driver was vomiting blood and it seemed he would pass out any moment.”
Ramdhan Yadav, a resident of Mariahu, Jaunpur, in Uttar Pradesh, had arrived in Mumbai only a week earlier. Family members said he was a farmer and sarpanch of Rambhartani village. He was also the Samajwadi Party block president of Mariahu. Mahendra Yadav, injured in the accident, is the party’s Vidhan Sabha secretary in Mariahu and a former sarpanch.
According to relatives, Ramdhani and Mahendra were accompanying Rajkumar to obtain a high-security registration plate (HSRP) for his autorickshaw from Bhandup. Later, they were to attend the wedding of Rajkumar’s niece, in Kalwa.
Engineer suspended
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), executing the project, on Saturday evening suspended Satyajeet Salve, executive engineer in-charge of the project. Sources told HT that further steps are expected after Fadnavis asked MMRDA to tighten the screws on those involved in the project.
MMRDA has also set up a committee headed by Basavraj M Bhadragond, director (projects), to investigate the accident. The agency has also imposed financial penalties amounting to ₹5 crore on the contractors and agencies responsible for supervision and execution of the work.
The civil work is being carried out by the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure and Astaldi (RAJV). The general consultant – a consortium of DB Engineering & Consulting, Hill International Inc and Louis Berger Consulting Pvt Ltd – has been fined ₹1 crore.
A Reliance Infrastructure spokesperson said, “The specific construction activity at the concerned location was being undertaken by the sub-contractor, Milan Road Buildtech LLP, in accordance with established contractual arrangements. The project was awarded to a joint venture consortium comprising Reliance Infrastructure Limited and Astaldi, Italy. We are fully cooperating with MMRDA and the concerned authorities in their assessment of the incident and are providing all necessary support.”
Red flag ignored?
However, troubling allegations have emerged that the sub-contractor linked to Saturday’s accident had been flagged for safety concerns in the same project along another stretch on LBS Marg.
BJP MLA Mihir Kotecha, who visited the accident site, alleged, “It has emerged that today’s incident involves the same contractor – Milan Road Buildtech LLP – whose work had previously been flagged for negligence. The metro’s chief safety officer said that workers mistakenly cut the parapet wall instead of welding and securing it. As per SOPs, such critical work must be carried out under supervision, but no supervisor was present. The weakened structure collapsed nearly 11 hours later,” said Kotecha.
He said he had recently inspected the 2-km stretch of LBS Marg with MMRDA and civic officials. “We identified serious negligence at more than 55 locations, documented them with over 100 GIS-tagged photographs, and requested action against the contractor.”
Kotecha also raised the matter during the winter session of the state legislature, presenting the GIS-tagged photographs and demanding accountability.
Newly elected mayor Ritu Tawde, who visited the site, said there was negligence on the part of the contractor, noting that the parapet wall had been installed only the previous night. She announced a third-party safety audit of the MMRDA site engineer and contractor, and said police cases would be filed against those responsible for the mishap.