GMDA chief fixes accountability, makes engineers liable for site safety lapses

On April 18, a city-based professor suffered injuries the car driven by her fell into an uncovered pit dug by GMDA on Hamilton Road near Galleria Market on Saturday evening

Following an incident on Galleria Market road on April 18 (Saturday), where a car toppled into a roadside pit dug for a stormwater drain, GMDA CEO PC Meena has said that engineering officials will be held accountable for safety lapses at project sites.

According to the order, all executive engineers are required to inspect construction projects under their jurisdiction and submit a certificate to the CEO confirming that adequate safety measures are in place. (Representational image)

Taking cognisance of the incident, Meena, in an order issued on Wednesday, made it mandatory for executive engineers to certify site safety. He said they would be held responsible for any accident caused by negligence.

According to the order, all executive engineers are required to inspect construction projects under their jurisdiction and submit a certificate to the CEO confirming that adequate safety measures are in place. If, during an inspection, an executive engineer finds that safety measures are lacking, they must report what action has been taken against the contractor. Specifically, they must indicate whether a penalty has been imposed on the contractor for such negligence, the order said.

Meena further stated that while recommending the payment of a contractor’s bill, the executive engineer must ensure that safety measures are in place at the construction site. In the absence of safety measures, the bill documentation must explicitly indicate that the corresponding penalty amount has been recovered.

All executive engineers are required to submit a certificate confirming the presence of safety measures to the chief engineer, who will ensure that these are filed for all ongoing projects.

“All XENs (executive engineers) shall submit a weekly compliance certificate to the chief engineer regarding adherence to public safety measures in all ongoing works. The chief engineer shall ensure that such compliance certificates are submitted regularly for each ongoing project. In the event of any accident occurring due to non-compliance of mandatory public safety measures, the engineering wing shall be held responsible for the lapse,” the order issued by Meena said on Wednesday.

On April 18, a city-based professor suffered injuries the car driven by her fell into an uncovered pit dug by GMDA on Hamilton Road near Galleria Market on Saturday evening. The victim remain stuck in her overturned car for almost 15 minutes, after which the passerby rescued her.

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