Within 20 days of the building collapse at the Central University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN), Tiruvarur, the Union Urban Development Ministry has cracked the whip on three senior engineers of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for their perceived lapse resulting in the death of five labourers and injuries to 16 others.
Three senior engineers directly tasked with the construction and monitoring of the buildings in the CUTN campuses at Nagakudi and Neelakudi in Tiruvarur district have been suspended pending further inquiry in the aftermath of the incident that occurred on March 29 when a pergola under construction at the residential quarters of the CUTN collapsed.
Chief Engineer and Project Manager Thangamuthu vested with the responsibility for all CPWD activities in Tiruvarur district, including the CUTN project, Executive Engineer Chandran and Assistant Engineer Chellappan, both attached to the project have been placed under suspension .
Their suspension comes after the investigation and field survey conducted by a technical committee headed by Additional Director General, CPWD, Mukesh Vij, last Wednesday and Thursday. The team submitted its findings to the Urban Development Ministry . The Ministry, that did not take the incident lightly since its occurrence, had also got a report from the CUTN officials on the circumstances and sequence of events immediately after building collapsed. The CUTN Executive Council met here on Friday to take stock of the developments.
