BENGALURU: The special committee probing the gate collapse at a playground in Malleswaram, which claimed the life of a 10-year-old boy, has highlighted seven points that caused the accident.
A lack of maintenance, failure to act even after public complaints regarding rusting of clamps, and negligence on the part of officials, among others, have been mentioned in the report.
It is learnt that the agency, which was supposed to maintain the playground, and the officials who are responsible for periodical inspection have neglected in their duties.
The committee comprising the engineer from the Technical Vigilance Committee under the Commissioner, and engineers from the quality assurance cell, have pointed out elements like failure of welding the heavy iron gate weighing 216 kg, a lack of heavy bearing clamps to hold the gate, completely corroded clamps due to rains, and a lack of maintenance and failure of responding to complaints by ward engineers. The committee has stated that a gate of such weight was not needed for the playground.
“The BBMP chief commissioner has directed to make the report even stronger. We will take two more days and give another report. We have found that the gate was damaged and vehicles were allowed inside Rajashankar Park, and events and cricket matches were conducted without Palike permission. The damaged gate was re-welded and the person who did the rework has done poor quality work that has led to the incident,” said an official, adding that it was the responsibility of the BBMP project department to fix gates at the playground.
The BBMP had already suspended Assistant Engineer Srinivas Raju following the incident. It was also preparing to suspend Assistant Executive Engineers, K Shanthala, Devaraju and Bibi Ayesha Hussain, and served show cause notices to Executive Engineer L Venkatesh. Once the final report is out, more heads are likely to roll, hinted the official.