Tundla shed collapse -- first a clean chit, now four heads roll

Tundla shed collapse -- first a clean chit, now four heads roll
BHAVNA VIJ

NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 13: At first, the official inquiry committee blamed the Tundla shed collapse -- in which 25 people died on September 2 -- to vibrations of a goods train! But the Railway Board rejected this report and asked the committee to review its findings.

Its latest report has led to the transfer of the Chief Engineer (construction), Northern Railway (NR), and the suspension of three of his subordinate officers. The committee has blamed these officials for failing to take adequate safety measures including: cordoning off the work area, providing protective gear like helmets to those working at the site and blocking a section of the goods train line.

The committee includes R L Malik, Additional Member (Projects); S R Ujlayan, Chief Administrative Officer (Construction), Northern Railway and A K Yog, Senior Executive Director (Civil Engineering), Lucknow. While rejecting the first report, the Railway Board included a fourth member, R N Aga, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Northern Railway.

Though Chief Engineer V K Govil -- now transferred to Southern Railway -- has not been mentioned in the inquiry report, there are references to decisions which could not have been taken by field officials on their own. Sectional engineer D K Sharma, who was supervising the work on the spot, has been blamed for ``violating the laid down procedure in regard to dismantling of the shed structure and safety norms at the work site.''

Deputy chief engineer Rajesh Agarwal and senior executive engineer Munna Lal have been held responsible for ``dereliction of duties for not ensuring proper planning and execution of the dismantling work.'' Sharma, Agarwal and Munna Lal have been suspended.

Deputy chief engineer Moti Ram, who was supervising the dismantling work in the first phase in November-December, last year, has also been apportioned ``secondary responsibility'' by the committee. No action has been taken against him, probably because no untoward incident happened during his tenure.

The dismantling work of the arched brick structure, supported by beams, was first undertaken last year. It was done departmentally by the railway labour itself despite the fact that contract for the work had been awarded in 1997. The report points out that ``because of the intricacy of the contract and difficulties anticipated in dismantling of a arch structured coupled with poor rates, the contractor never undertook the work.''

More than 55 per cent work was completed as per plan with the dismantling done from the roof downwards. After a long gap, work resumed on September 2 under Sharma's supervision. This time, the dismantling was undertaken from the columns.

The committee said that the contract management of this work was ``extremely poor.'' It recommended that such complicated work should be supervised by an officer-level person and that delays should be avoided.