The Bhubaneswar Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) authorities on Saturday began a probe into the collapse of the roof of an under-construction Link Building at the airport in which a person was killed and many others were injured on Friday night.
BPIA Director VV Rao said a slab of the building connecting the domestic terminal with the international terminal caved in at around 11 pm. “A 200-m concrete slab of the link building collapsed. Most of the workers had left the spot and only two workers were present,” he said.
Rao said a committee would be formed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and a detailed probe into the technical drawbacks and other aspects which led to the mishap would be conducted.
Though a case is yet to be registered by the Commissionerate police, Dillip Khatei, owner of Dilip Constructions Private Limited which is executing the construction work at the airport, was detained. City DCP Anup Sahoo interrogated Khatei and the process of verifying documents have also begun.
“The concerned contractor and engineers are being interrogated. A special team comprising forensic officials and engineers of the Works Department has been formed to probe the mishap. Action will be taken based on its report,” he said.
One of the workers got crushed to death under the collapsed roof. The deceased was identified as Antaryami Guru, a helper of a truck engaged in the construction work. Though Guru was rescued and rushed to a hospital, he succumbed to the injuries.
As per the version of the injured workers, the construction work was going on in the night and around 10-12 persons were engaged in the work when the roof collapsed.
Getting information, NDRF, ODRAF and Fire Services teams rushed to the spot with the equipments and undertook conducted search and rescue operations, said Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Jena.
The rescue operations continued for around four hours.
“We rescued the injured and brought them to hospital. One of them was declared brought dead by doctors. The condition of the injured person is out of danger,” said Khordha Collector Sitanshu Rout.
An official of the construction firm claimed that all safety measures had been taken and the workers were wearing all safety gears.
However, Odisha Contractors’ Association president Prabhat Das has questioned whether the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was followed for centering work. “The reason behind the roof collapse could be mainly due to weak centering work, not to forget the labourers were still working on the roof. Two persons should be held accountable -- the contractor and the engineer of the construction agency or the department who is in charge to supervise the project,” said Das.
