BRT girder incident: Probe body submits final report

The final findings of the government committee, formed to investigate the August 15 BRT Line-3 incident, are “similar” to its preliminary findings that were revealed earlier.

A member of the seven-member committee told this to The Daily Star after it submitted the final report to the Road Transport and Highways Division yesterday.

Another member, preferring anonymity, said, “There are similarities [between the final and preliminary findings] regarding major issues. But they are not identical because we have incorporated many details in the final report.”

The preliminary report, submitted the day after the incident, said the project’s Chinese contractor, safety team and the crane operator were responsible.

The committee, led by Neelima Akhter, additional secretary of the division, submitted the new report yesterday — 15 days after five people were crushed to death when a crane toppled over, making a box girder segment fall on a private car in the capital’s Uttara area.

The committee, in the final report, also recommended the completion of the long-delayed project as soon as possible, while ensuring all necessary safety measures, as the ongoing work is causing trouble for commuters on the road.

Contacted, ABM Amin Ullah Nur, secretary of the division, said, “I have received the report but did not go through it yet. I was hoping to inform you [journalists] about the findings on Sunday.”

The division initially formed a three-member committee a day after the incident. Four more members, including an expert from Buet, were later added, while the deadline for the final report’s submission was extended twice.

Based on the preliminary report that blamed Chinese contractor China Gezhouba Group Co Ltd, Amin Ullah had said that as per the contract, the contractor can be terminated from the project and be blacklisted, barring it from working in any other country.