A section of the under-construction elevated road on Dwarka Expressway collapsed, injuring three labourers, the police said on Sunday.
The collapse on the National Highway 248-BB, which connects Delhi and Gurugram, is the second such incident in the latter in less than a year.
Similar incident
A portion of the under-construction elevated corridor had collapsed on Gurugram-Alwar Highway in a similar way in August last year.
The under-erection span and the adjoining span of the elevated corridor on the highway came crashing down near Daultabad Chowk at 7.30 a.m. along with the launcher with a deafening sound heard in a radius of several hundred kilometres.
“Of the three labourers who sustained injures, two of them had superficial injuries and one had fractures. We are recording the statements of the three following which a case would be registered,” said Deepak Saharan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West).
Around two dozen labourers working on the night shift had a miraculous escape as they left the site just minutes before the collapse.
“Around 20-25 labourers were present at the construction site standing on top of the section 10 minutes before the collapse. Though their shift ends around 8 a.m., they left early today [on Sunday] because of Holi. It is Sunday so the labourers for the next shift did not come,” said Rajbir Singh, an eyewitness.
Dharmendra Yadav, who was in a crane parked under the section, also escaped unhurt. “Just minutes after I parked the crane under it, I heard a faint creaking sound. I looked outside to see dust falling from the top. Even before I could figure out anything, the two slabs came crashing down. Luckily, they did not land on the vehicle,” said Dharemendra.
Rohit Chaudhary, a resident of Paras Dews in Sector 106, said he went rushing to his flat’s balcony when he heard a loud thud. He thought maybe a plane had crashed, but he soon spotted the collapsed portion of the corridor on the highway.
The National Highways Authority of India, in a press statement, said an expert committee was being constituted to ascertain the reason for failure leading to the accident and the key officials of the contractor and supervision consultant were suspended.
“The authority has viewed the incident seriously and pending the outcome of the investigation by the committee, the personnel concerned of the Contractor M/s L&T and Supervision Consultant M/s AECOM have been suspended as per Standard Operating Procedure of the NHAI,” read the statement.
