The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has given a clean chit to construction companies Gammon India and Hyundai Engineering in the collapse of the bridge over the Chambal river, which killed 30 people.
“We have not found Gammon India and Hyundai guilty in the Chambal bridge collapse,” NHAI Chairman Brijeshawar Singh told reporters at the rescue operations site on Monday.
To a query on blacklisting the companies he said: “We must follow a procedure based on proof to blacklist.”
Singh said that there had been “some technical reasons” behind the collapse which would come out only after the debris are removed and investigation completed.
To get to the actual reason for the incident, the iron ropes recovered from the wreckage and the quality of iron used would be thoroughly probed, he said. The chairman said two NHAI officials had been booked under Sections 304 (culpable homicide) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code. A four-member committee set up by the authority will go into the collapse which claimed the lives of 30 people. Singh said the project would now be delayed by 9-12 months and was expected to be completed by December 2011.
