Satyakam (& others)

The issue here is one of where the safety responsibility lies. There should be
no doubt that the responsibility eventually lies with DMRC. These works are
happening because the DMRC is the procuring organisation that is asking for
these things to be done. I am not familiar with all the health and safety
legislation in India but somehwere there has to be a definition of a competent
body responsible for oversight of the works and in my mind that has to be the
DMRC.

I agree fully that there are issues with Gammon and possibly other contractors,
their sub-contractors and other staff. The method statements need to be written
by the party doing the work (in this case Gammon, or its sub-contractors) but
unless DMRC has delegated, without regard to competence, the approval of these
method statements to the contractors it is accounable for these safety lapses.
If, on the other hand, the DMRC has delegated to the contractors despite their
poor safety record then there is an even bigger issue.

There ought to be no doubt that the party that holds public funds and the
planning rights to build the Metro is DMRC and, consequently, there should be no
doubt that the DMRC is accountable eventually, irrespective of what its
contractors do. That is not to absolve the contractors but just to say that DMRC
cannot shirk responsibility for safety.

DMRC's media handling of this has been even worse - the statement from its PRO
that there was a "design issue" with the piers brings into question the
soundness of all elevated sections of the tracks as, to the naked eye, they all
seem to have the same design.

The further accident yesterday, as in Ashish's post, is only further evidence of
a lack of safety consciousness in the company.

Shashi

--- In delhimetro@yahoogroups.com, Anand Dwarkanath <adwark@...> wrote: