Metro pillar's design deficiency led to mishap: Shreedharan

New Delhi, July 28 (ANI): Tabling the action taken report (ATR) of the July 12 metro mishap, DMRC director E Sreedharan on Tuesday said that the tragedy on pillar 67 occurred due to the design and material deficiencies.

"Based on report, the concrete was not strong enough," Sreedharan said, addressing a press conference here.

Earlier this day, Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy said in Lok Sabha that the DMRC has decided to blacklist its design consultants and crack down on some senior officials.

"The DMRC has taken 10 steps in the wake of the Metro mishap and to ensure that such incidents don't re-occur," Reddy had said.

The design consultant, Arch Consultancy Services, has been blacklisted for five years while the structural consultant, Tandon Consultants, which did not give "correct advice" to DMRC is being debarred for two years.

The contractor Gammon India will be issued a show cause notice for blacklisting for two years, Reddy said.

He added that Vijay Anand, director of DMRC in whose jurisdiction the accident took place, as well as the previous accident involving a launching girder collapse, has been sent back to the railways.

Two deputy chief engineers directly responsible for the design and site supervision, VP Shrivastava and Mukesh Thakur, have been placed under suspension.

Rajan Kataria, the chief engineer design, DMRC, will be issued with a major penalty chargesheet, Reddy said.

The July 12 accident at a Metro construction site in Zamrudpur in south Delhi caused the death of six workers, including an engineer. (ANI)