New Delhi, July 13 (Inditop.com) Six people were injured Monday in a second accident involving Delhi Metro in as many days, ironically at the very site where a disaster a day earlier killed six people and prompted its chief E. Sreedharan to resign on moral grounds.
The six were injured when they fell during a panic run triggered by the collapse of four huge cranes while moving a 31-metre-long steel girder that had tilted dangerously after Sunday’s disaster in Zamrudpur area of south Delhi, officials said.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) identified the six injured as Manish Datta, Satnam Singh, Kailsah Singh, Dharmendra Singh and Atiq Khan.
The latest tragedy occurred when about 200 metro workers and engineers were gathered at the site to remove tonnes of debris and divert traffic in view of the earlier fatal accident.
Suddenly, one after another, the cranes came crashing down amid a deafening roar. Within moments everyone started to run from the site, fear writ large on their faces. There was a near stampede.
Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) explained later that a mechanical snag in one of the cranes was to blame for the incident that miraculously killed none.
The arms of three of the cranes snapped while one monster crane tilted and ended up standing on its head, DMRC spokesman Anuj Dayal told reporters.
In the process the girder crashed on a row of shops, crushing three of them. Luckily, the shops were shut. Their stunned owner, Deshraj Chowdhry told IANS: “The government should take steps to prevent such accidents.”
DMRC chief Sreedharan announced he was withdrawing the resignation he submitted Sunday following appeals from top officials including Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
Dayal said Sreedharan received a letter Sunday night from Dikshit urging him to continue in the post. The chief minister later said: “He is a very eminent person. He has done so much work. We want him and everyone wants him.”
Sreedharan inspected the accident site twice Monday but did not attend the usual weekly meeting of the DMRC in the morning.
The government said it had set up an enquiry to find out what went wrong Sunday. A team of independent experts has been asked to submit a report in 10 days.
DMRC said its engineers and technicians were working out how to dismantle the tilted girder on the elevated section of the metro track that gave way Sunday, raining tonnes of concrete and metal.
Traffic on the road over which the track was being built has been halted. One lane of the road will be opened by Tuesday afternoon for traffic while the other should open in six to seven days, the company said.
DMRC admitted that the latest mishap was a setback to get work restarted at the project site that links central Delhi with Badarpur in the extreme southern fringe of the capital.
Sunday’s disaster that killed six people and injured 15 workers, two of who are still reported to be in critical condition, was the worst accident in Delhi Metro’s history. One of the men battling for life is Amar Singh, who sustained serious head injuries and internal bleeding.
The collapsing girder Sunday caused a huge crater and burst underground water pipes, starving residential areas of potable water.
The accidents found an echo in the Indian parliament Monday where Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy praised Delhi Metro’s safety record and denied that the company was in a hurry to complete the project ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Gammon India, contractors to Delhi Metro, denied any lapse on their part and said they would cooperate with the official investigation.
Delhi Metro operates three hugely popular lines connecting the northern, central, eastern and southwestern parts of Delhi. Around 800,000 commuters daily use the network covering a total of 190 km.
