August 11, 2007	Saturday	Rajab 26, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Aug 10: Two labourers were killed, and two others injured, when a “retaining wall” of the underpass being built at China Chowk collapsed on Friday around 11:30am.

About 20 other labourers working at the site were lucky to escape the tragedy as they had gone for lunch, sources in the Capital Development Authority (CDA) said.

CDA registered an FIR at the Kohsar Police Station against the contractor and the consultant executing the Rs400 million project and simultaneously ordered an inquiry into the causes of the incident.

But the contractor and the consultant termed it an accident.

Still the construction firm - Ghulam Rasool & Company - announced compensation of Rs200,000 each to the families of Haji Mohammad Bashir and Mohammad Ramzan who died in the incident and Rs50,000 each for the two injured.

“This is extra to what the insurance company would pay them. We have our labourers insured with Adamjee Insurance Company,” the project manager of the construction firm, Col (retired) Mohammad Iqbal, said.

He said he would not blame any agency or person for the incident but abnormal rains and underground water which had weakened the earth at the site.

Relatives of the deceased concurred with his views when they refused to lodge FIR against the contractor, police sources said.

However, the CDA insisted on registering a case, claiming the contractor and the consultant did not take adequate safety and pre-cautionary measures.

“Yes, we are going to take punitive action against the contractor and the consultant who can be black listed,” said CDA Chairman Kamran Lashari while visiting the scene of incident.

Mr Lashari said he and his engineers had made it sure that the collapse of the retaining wall would not endanger the nearby buildings, including the 17-storey Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat.

Friday’s tragedy gave a new twist to the raging controversy over who is to blame for the inordinate delay in completing the work on the underpasses in the city.

Zulfiqar Ali Bokhari, resident engineer of the consultant firm Engineering Associates, identified the slow removal of the underground gas, electricity and telephone lines as main cause of the delay.

He said the site of China Chowk underpass was dug up two months ago and what collapsed on Friday was not a “retaining wall” but a mud slide caused by the rainwater and underground water.

“All pre-cautionary measures were in place. It was just an accident,” he said.

Sources in the CDA said the slow shifting of underground gas, electricity and telephone lines by SNGPL, Iesco and PTCL was not only delaying the construction of six underpasses on 9th Avenue and at China Chowk but also affecting the quality of work.

CDA Chairman Kamran Lashari has written about it to a Standing Committee of the Senate, headed by Senator Talha Mahmood, seeking its help in expediting the process of shifting of utility services.

His letter to the committee said the CDA had launched several road projects in the past three years and more development projects would be executed in the current fiscal year.

Agencies like Wapda (Islamabad Electric Supply Company), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL), Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) take months to respond to requests to remove their services away from the sites of the projects, the letter complained.

Important projects like the underpasses at China Chowk and on 9th Avenue were expected to be completed ahead of schedule but have been delayed due to non-removal of such services.

“As a result CDA is taking flak for the inconvenience and discomfort caused to the public,” the CDA chairman said.

Sources in the CDA said, the authority had paid over Rs350 million for shifting of services lines from the sites of underpasses at 7th Avenue, 9th Avenue and China Chowk.

This money could be saved if flyovers had been constructed instead, the sources said.

After the bitter experience, the CDA has decided to build flyovers wherever underpasses were proposed.

The CDA paid Rs17.6 million to Iesco, Rs80 million to PTCL, Rs9.7 million to SNGPL and Rs5.1 million to NTC for removing their services away from 7th Avenue construction site.

For removal of services at China Chowk, the CDA has paid Rs40 million to Iesco, Rs45 million to PTCL, Rs49 million to NTC and Rs8.59 million to SNGPL.

Despite receiving the amount many months ago the SNGPL has not started the work, according to the CDA sources.

They said the CDA had paid over Rs100 million to utility departments for shifting of service at 9th Avenue.