Delhi Metro,Gammon spar on crane mishap inquiry report

On July 13,four cranes were lifting the launching girder that had collapsed the day before when the boom of one snapped. As a result,two adjoining cranes gave way and the third toppled. Six workers received minor injuries,and three cranes were destroyed in the event.

The inquiry report on this mishap by B P Singh,an expert on construction of heavy structures,says,“Mechanical failure of cranes is primarily due to sudden overloading of cranes as well as side thrust due to non-correction of swing”. The report (Newsline has a copy) also says,“In this situation,team work demands free interaction with experienced operators,lifting engineers and managers for giving ultimate plan of operation.”

While DMRC managing director Sreedharan says site-clearing operations were carried out by contractors and any flaw in crane operations will be their responsibility,senior Gammon officials said DMRC was consulted throughout the process.

Gammon is responsible for site-clearing operations as per the contract.

But the probe report says interactions were also held with DMRC’s chief project manager (south-east) S K Gupta,Gammon vice-president (plant) V K Luthra,and Gammon’s deputy project manager Manish Dutta.

Also present at the site were other senior officials from contractors like CEC SOMA,ALLCARGO,and Amrik Singh and Sons Cranes,the report says.

Sreedharan said,“Proper and safe method of lifting should have been adopted by Gammon. The entire crane operation and recovery was being done by the contractor and DMRC engineers are not experts in crane operation.”

He said DMRC engineers were involved “only in assisting Gammon in procuring cranes”.

But Umesh Gupta,assistant vice-president of Gammon India,asked,“Why is the contractor held responsible for everything? Senior DMRC officials were present during the operations and were consulted at every step. Even they should take responsibility for the incident.”

Senior Gammon officials also alleged that contract terms with DMRC are one-sided and nails a contractor for all loopholes despite DMRC being the supervising and approving agency for all designs and construction work.

ON PAGE 3: High Court notice to DMRC,Gammon