Odisha: 6 face trial for bridge collapse that killed 2

BHUBANESWAR: The Lokayukta Odisha on Friday decided to initiate prosecution against six persons, including four government employees, in a special court for their alleged criminal misconduct that led to the collapse of an under-construction bridge in Balangir district which killed two and injured two more.

The anti-corruption watchdog has asked the state vigilance to file the charge sheet against them.

Citing the vigilance probe report into the collapse of a portion of the bridge over Suktel river at Tamia-Mudalsar road in Balangir district on April 29, 2020, the Lokayukta said, "It is clear as daylight that substandard work was done in the construction of the bridge by the executant agency in collusion with the officials of the rural development department for wrongful pecuniary gain."

A three-member bench of the Lokayukta, led by chairperson Ajit Singh, observed that executive engineer Sudhanshu Sekhar Mohapatra passed the bills in favour of the executing agency without proper verification. Assistant executive engineer Tapan Behera and junior engineer Ranjit Bag did not object to the use of substandard cement and rod in the work. Similarly, accounts officer Braj Bhushan Kumar did not point out excess payment compared to the cement used and did not check non-submission of purchase vouchers. Sanjay Agarwal and Ganesh Nair, managing director and project manager, of the private agency executing the work, did not follow the terms and conditions for financial gains.

The Lokayukta had taken suo motu cognizance of media reports and had ordered the state vigilance to conduct an inquiry into the bridge collapse. The vigilance suggested action under the Prevention of Corruption Act and 120(B) of the IPC (criminal conspiracy) against the persons involved, the Lokayukta order stated.

Two months before the collapse, when a deflection was noticed in the bridge in February, the rural development department had asked a Delhi-based expert to inspect it. The expert, V K Raina, had pointed out poor quality work and had suggested that a certain portion of the superstructure be demolished and reconstructed. But his suggestion was ignored.

The government had sanctioned the bridge under Biju Setu Yojana in 2013-14 and an e-tender was finalised to construct the bridge at an estimated cost of Rs 6.99 crore.