Bhopal: EOW may take cognizance of retaining wall collapse incident

Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): Economic Offence Wing (EOW) may take cognizance into poor construction of retaining wall built along the approach road to the bridge over Kaliasot river. The retaining wall had collapsed on July 25.

The EOW director general Ajay Mishra told Free Press that the staff was examining the details of the incident. “Till Wednesday evening, no letter or recommendation was received from the state government to investigate the incident. But the officials are examining the incident and if carelessness in construction was deliberate for personal benefit, the EOW may take cognisance of the matter and register case,” Mishra said.

Due to the continuous rain in Bhopal and its surrounding areas in last few days, large volumes of water was released after gate of Kaliasot dam was opened on the night of July 24. Nearly 40-metre-long security wall built along the side of approach road to bridge over Kaliasot river had collapsed, cutting off the service lane on one side. At present, there is no damage to the bridge.

Earlier, PWD minister Gopal Bhargava had suspended engineer SP Dubey with immediate effect and ordered departmental action against the then District Manager Pawan Arora and Assistant General Manager DK Jain (retired).

Also, instructions were issued to blacklist CDS India Limited, the company that designed and built the bridge and the project consultant theme engineer. The entire damage would be compensated by the concerned construction agency.