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NHAI officials to recommend ‘crackdown’ on contractor, engineer after show-cause notices ignored
NHAI officials said that they were given three days to reply and the deadline ended on Monday. “This is enough to show that there was major negligence on their part as they had no information about the crash for eight hours and failed to save the couple,” they said.
Gurugram:The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials have decided to recommend their headquarters for crackdown against the contractor and a supervision engineer for ignoring show-cause notices issued against them over negligence in the Delhi-Mumbai expressway accident in which a couple bled to death after remaining trapped inside their mangled car for eight hours.
NHAI officials said that they were given three days to reply and the deadline ended on Monday. “This is enough to show that there was major negligence on their part as they had no information about the crash for eight hours and failed to save the couple,” they said.
PK Kaushik, NHAI project director (Sohna) said that senior officials would take a decision on what penalties would be imposed on them as per the contract agreement.
“They may be terminated from their services or a hefty monetary fine be imposed on them. The contractor was responsible for ensuring rigorous patrol which could have led the ground teams to spot the crash,” Kaushik said.
He said that they have sanitised ground teams to ensure round-the-clock patrolling and CCTV monitoring to avoid such incidents.
Lachhi Ram, 42, and his wife Kusum Lata, 38, were returning to their home at Mangeram Park in Delhi in their grey Wagon-R car when it rammed into a dumper truck moving ahead at 11.52pm on Tuesday. The Wagon-R was changing lanes after being overtaken by the speeding vehicle from its left, police said.
The couple were trapped inside the mangled car after which it was hit again at 12.14am on Wednesday, 22 minutes after the first impact, by a speeding Maruti Ertiga. Police received a call about the crash at 7.38am and upon reaching the spot, found the couple dead.
Krishan Kumar, public relations officer of Nuh police said that they have ascertained the identity of both the drivers with the help of their respective vehicle owners. “We will arrest the accused soon and seize the vehicles,” he added.
