With continuous urbanisation comes the need for rapid transformation of a city. The island city is no stranger to this, given the various infrastructural projects constantly
undertaken. However, it has also paved way for a spate of unfortunate events that jeopardise people’s lives.
A background check on these incidents, occurring at the construction of infrastructure projects in Mumbai, shows that till date, nine people have lost their lives and 38 others have been injured in the mishaps. The `2,356 crore Metro rail project, stretching just over 11 km between Versova —Andheri — Ghatkopar has been a witness to the majority of these accidents.
The other projects where mishaps have occurred include Monorail, Eastern Freeway, Skywalks and Lalbaug Flyover.
Accidents
Since May 2008, 20 incidents have been reported in the city in which either the construction firm or motorists were at fault.
Details reveal that a dozen of these incidents have occurred at the Metro sites alone, which also includes the September 4, 2012 accident.
Three have occurred while skywalks were being constructed — two at Kandivali and one at Vasai. The Lalbaug Flyover and the Eastern Freeway have witnessed one incident each. One mishap has even occurred at the construction site of the first Monorail in India. (See box)
In the past, discrepancies have been found in the construction of the Metro rail sites. The piers being constructed at the Indian Oil Junction on JP Road in Andheri (west) developed cracks and were demolished.
When RInfra officials were asked about how many pillars were found defective, they refused to answer, which also raised questions about the levels of safety involved in the project.
The set-up
“The consortium Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) was formed with Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) owning the majority stake of 69 per cent (`353.1 crore), followed by that
of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) of 26 per cent (`133 crore) and Veolia Transport i.e. five per cent with shares of `25.59 crore. The state and Central government have approved a Viability Gap Funding of `650 crore,” said joint project director of the MMRDA, Dilip Kawathkar.
Compensation
“In the May 2008 incident, when a piling rig had fallen on a autorickshaw at Andheri (west), `25 lakh was given to the relatives of the deceased and `1.35 lakh to the driver who was injured,” said S.V.R. Srinivas, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA.
Similarly, RInfra-led MMOPL had paid `5 lakh each to the parents of the children who had drowned in a pit at Subhash Nagar in April 2011.
Poor implementation of safety measures Despite repeated incidents, safety of labourers at construction sites has been ignored due to the callousness of the authorities.
Frequent visits to these sites reveal how construction workers are at risk due to the inept implementation of safety recommendations. One remedial step towards the labourers’ safety taken was “Workman at height must use safety harness and always anchor the hook to suitable anchorage point”, after a construction site worker had fallen from a viaduct in July 2011 near Navrang Cinema in Andheri (west).
Moreover, an MMRDA official said, “Workers are not comfortable working with safety harness, even when they are told to wear it they wear it for a few minutes later they remove it!”
What experts say “Even railways undertake so many projects, but so many accidents do not occur. Why do so many incidents occur at the Metro rail sites alone? It is sad that the series of mishaps are not coming to an end,” said a railway official requesting anonymity. The MMRDA has already sent a showcause notice to Simplex Infrastructure for a series of accidents on its construction sites, especially after the July 19 mishap on the Eastern Freeway in Wadala. The company has replied to it, a final decision on banning it from bidding for projects in the Mumbai metropolitan region is however, still pending.
Companies’ defence
“In the last four-five years there has been a huge spurt in the number of infrastructure projects being undertaken in the city to make it future ready. One needs to bear in mind that implementing projects in a city like Mumbai is challenging. Underground utilities, which in most cases are unmapped and
whose structural and physical health are rarely checked, pose a big challenge,” said the spokesperson from Simplex Infrastructure.
“It is a challenge to construct an elevated Metro Rail on congested roads in Mumbai, there are so many difficulties
right from utilities to managing the traffic and movement going around. In other words, its madness,” said an official from Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra).
State’s hands tied
The MMRDA selected Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) finance model to implement Metro Rail project that has been criticised on several grounds by the man behind the Delhi metro, E. Sreedharan. In fact, back in March this year, a planning commission working group on urban transport for the 12th five year plan had rejected the PPP model for infrastructure projects in India.
A senior bureaucrat in the state government commented, “We will need PPP model for future projects. We cannot scrap it. Instead, the stake holding percentage can be altered and the state government can be handed over the majority share.” Chief of transport and communication, P.R.K. Murthy, after Tuesday’s accident at Marol said, “All the safety audits are not 100 per cent. There are some slips.”
Blame game
Post Tuesday’s accident, the agencies involved in the construction of Metro rail started the blame game.
When it came to replying to questions, HCC, which is constructing Airport Road station where the mishap occurred, passed the buck onto the RInfra-led MMOPL. Similarly, MMRDA too was tight-lipped and wanted the MMOPL to answer. MMOPL issued a three-line statement, terming the incident unfortunate.