Metro projects will be completed before Games: Sreedharan

Delhi Metro chief E. Sreedharan Tuesday said all their projects would be completed before the Commonwealth Games next year despite a major accident this month and the discovery of cracks in pillars.

“The mishap and the cracks seen in the pillars will not have any delay whatsoever on the overall completion of the Delhi Metro projects. We will be able to complete the work on all sections comfortably before the Commonwealth Games in 2010,” Sreedharan said at a press conference.

Sreedharan also said that construction major Gammon India has been given a showcause notice and may get blacklisted for a period of two years for the Metro accident July 12. That day, an under-construction elevated section of Delhi Metro in Zamrudpur in south Delhi collapsed killing six people and injuring 15.

Gammon India is the contractor of the Central Secretariat-Badarpur line where the accident occurred. It is also in charge of building the Yamuna Bank-Noida stretch of the Delhi Metro.

Sreedharan said the design consultant, Arch Consultancy Services, had been blacklisted for five years while the structural consultant, Tandon Consultants, was being debarred for two years for not giving “correct advice” to the Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC).

This decision was based on a probe by a panel appointed by the DMRC.

Vijay Anand, director of DMRC in whose jurisdiction the accident took place as well as a previous accident involving a launching girder collapse, has been sent back to the railways “on moral grounds”.

Two deputy chief engineers directly responsible for the design and site supervision - V.P. Shrivastava and Mukesh Thakur - have been placed under suspension. Rajan Kataria, the chief engineer design, DMRC, will be issued with a major penalty charge sheet, Sreedharan said.