No compensation, no chargesheet, victims of Bengaluru metro pillar collapse await justice even after 4 months

The mother and son lost their lives after a reinforcement cage of a Namma Metro pillar crashed on them while they were riding a bike near Nagavara on January 10.

Soon after the accident, the state government announced Rs 10 lakh as compensation from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and the BMRCL announced a relief amount of Rs 20 lakh. However, Sulakhe has refused to accept the compensation offered by the BMRCL and sought a higher compensation amount. Meanwhile, Sulakhe is yet to receive any relief amount from the state government.

DCP East Bheemashankar S Guled stated that the police have submitted the chargesheet to their counsel for review. Govindapura police station registered a case under Sections 336 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others), 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 304 (a) (Causing death by negligence), and 427 (Mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Indian Penal Code against BMRCL site engineer and other workers of the organisation.

“The chargesheet is ready. We have submitted it to our police department’s legal counsel for review. We have still not filed it in the court,” said Guled.

Sulakhe said, “It has been over four months now and we are still awaiting justice. We have filed an affidavit in the Karnataka High Court but the matter is yet to reach the judges’ chamber. Unfortunately, we have not received any compensation from the CM Relief Fund after the accident. Although the BMRCL has agreed to pay the relief amount, we will be fighting in the court seeking a higher amount.”

Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court directed the state government and BMRCL to respond to the suo motu PIL taken up by the Court over the accident.

BMRCL MD Anjum Parvez said, “We have already submitted a report to the High Court in this regard. The metro works on the Nagavara stretch have already begun. But we have not begun work on the metro pillar that caused the accident. We are waiting for the police to complete their investigation.”

Parvez further said, “We have sent multiple letters to them (victim) in connection with the relief amount. But they have not responded.”

A report submitted by IISc professor Chandra Kishen stated that the 18-metre reinforcement cage that fell on Sulakhe’s wife and son was not a single structure but a combination of two structures overlapping each other. Kishen explained that the overlapping structures caused bending and as the supporting structures of the reinforcement cage were not properly designed, the whole 18-metre reinforcement structure collapsed.

The BMRCL suspended the deputy chief engineer, executive engineer, and site engineer, following the deaths. Meanwhile, the police are yet to act against the Hyderabad-based construction company, Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC), which is the contractor for the metro works on Phase 2B connecting KR Puram and Hebbal.