The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has imposed a Rs 6 crore penalty on the contractor and general consultant overseeing Metro Line 4 after two construction workers died at the under-construction Bhakti Park station in Wadala.
Reliance Infrastructure and Astaldi SPA Joint Venture (RAJV), the project contractor, has been fined Rs 5 crore, while the joint venture serving as general consultant has been fined Rs 1 crore. The consultant comprises DB Engineering & Consulting, Hill International and Louis Berger.
The penalties were imposed on Friday, a day after the deaths were reported. The incident took place at around 7.30 pm last Saturday, when an iron staging used as scaffolding collapsed as workers were climbing down from the first floor of the station under construction.
The workers, identified as Nahij, 33, and Sakim, 37, were reportedly winding down for the day and preparing to return to their rooms when the staging gave way. Both were from Tetia village in West Bengal. Fellow workers took them to Sion Hospital, where Nahij was declared brought dead. Sakim died later that night while undergoing treatment.
MMRDA said it had conducted a detailed examination of the incident and held the contractor and general consultant accountable. “MMRDA accords the highest priority to safety and took immediate cognisance of the Bhakti Park incident, initiating action on the very same day,” the authority said.
According to MMRDA’s preliminary findings, lapses occurred at the supervisory level of subcontractor Milan Road Buildtech. The authority did not disclose the deaths until after the incident was reported by The Indian Express.
The Wadala TT police registered a first information report on September 15, three days after the incident, against site supervisor Tarikh Ul Islam. The case was registered under Section 106(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for causing death by negligence.
The same contractor, consultant and subcontractor were involved in another fatal incident on the Metro Line 4 project. In February, a parapet slab collapsed on LBS Road in Mulund, killing one person and injuring three others after the slab fell on vehicles travelling below the viaduct.
MMRDA had imposed penalties of the same value in that case: Rs 5 crore on the contractor and Rs 1 crore on the consultant. An investigation and police probe found that a welder had cut interlocking hooks before the concrete had set, causing the slab to come loose.
The bodies of the two workers killed at Bhakti Park have since been sent to their families. The police investigation and MMRDA’s examination remain the formal processes through which responsibility for the latest site failure will be established.
