A three-member committee has blamed the private company engaged in the construction of the Bomikhhal flyover...

A three-member committee has blamed the private company engaged in the construction of the Bomikhhal flyover, a portion of which had collapsed on May 3, for not putting adequate safety measures in place, a minister has said. Quoting the report of the committee probing the flyover collapse, Works Minister Prafulla Mallick said yesterday that the construction company had not engaged skilled workers for the project. Works secretary Nalinikanta Pradhan said that the state government would soon issue show cause notices to the concerned government officials and engineers who were entrusted to oversee the construction work of the flyover. The remaining work of the flyover will be taken up by the Works Department at an estimated cost of Rs 1-2 crore, Pradhan said. Expenditure for construction of two spans of another flyover near Lingaraj temple will be completed at a cost of Rs 50-60 lakh, he said.

Works Minister Prafulla Mallick

A portion of the under-construction Bomikhal flyover, which collapsed twice in the last nine months, caved in on May 3 resulting in the death of a laborer and leaving another seriously injured. The minister said before inaugurating the two flyovers, the government will conduct a third-party probe to ascertain the quality of work. "If any technical glitch is found, it would be rectified before throwing it open to the public," he said. Asked about the government's decision on two other flyovers being built by the same company, the minister said the government will arrive at a decision after scrutinizing all legal aspects. Meanwhile, the police yesterday arrested Prasant Padhi, a director of the construction company, in connection with the flyover collapse. The police had on May 4 arrested the owner of the company, Pratap Kishore Panda.