A year after a building collapse in Transport Nagar killed eight people and left 28 others injured, Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) has finalised the names of 13 officials who served between 2010 and 2014 when the illegal construction came up.
The list has been sent to the state government for appropriate action.
LDA vice-chairman Prathamesh Kumar on Wednesday confirmed the move. “A list has been prepared and forwarded for necessary action against 13 officials who were posted at the time of the [building’s] construction,” he said.
The mentioned three-storey building collapsed on September 7 last year. Soon after the incident, LDA ordered a structural audit by the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) in Gandhinagar (Gujarat). The 72-page report submitted by NFSU confirmed that unauthorised construction and substandard materials were directly responsible for the tragedy. This was earlier reported by HT.
Despite this, there was a delay for months in fixing the responsibility. Hindustan Times reported in January that LDA had not been able to finalise a report against its officials even after the forensic findings. The latest development marks the first concrete step towards fixing responsibility for the incident.
The list puts the 13 officials into three categories based on their tenures. The first category has five officials who served from September 25, 2010 to August 20, 2012. The second category lists two officials who served from August 18, 2012, to August 21, 2012. The third category names six officials who served between August 21, 2012 and 2014.
{{/usCountry}}The list puts the 13 officials into three categories based on their tenures. The first category has five officials who served from September 25, 2010 to August 20, 2012. The second category lists two officials who served from August 18, 2012, to August 21, 2012. The third category names six officials who served between August 21, 2012 and 2014.
{{/usCountry}}The list mentions assistant engineers and junior engineers who were responsible for monitoring the construction between 2010 and 2014. They are: Basant Kumar (assistant engineer), Rajnesh Kumar (junior engineer), Pawan Gupta (junior engineer), J.S. Mishra (junior engineer), C.B. Pandey (junior engineer), P.K. Singh (assistant engineer), Anil Kumar Singh (junior engineer), Rajendra Kumar Srivastava (assistant engineer), Abdul Rauf (junior engineer), Pauhari Yadav (junior engineer), and Shriram Singh Yadav (junior engineer). The names of Pawan Gupta and C.B. Pandey appeared more than once as they were posted in LDA in multiple spells, as mentioned in the list.
An LDA official, requesting anonymity, said most of the identified officials have already retired. “They were posted when the construction was carried out after the map was passed. Many of them have already retired, but accountability still has to be established,” the official said.
Families of victims have repeatedly demanded strict action against those responsible, accusing LDA of shielding its own staff. With the finalisation of names, the focus now shifts on the state government, which will decide on disciplinary or legal proceedings against the officers.
A transport union official said the collapse exposed glaring lapses in supervision and monitoring of construction activities in LDA’s jurisdiction, raising larger questions about safety standards in urban housing projects across the city.