No sub-standard material used in foot overbridge: Report

NEW DELHI - A two-member committee set up to probe the collapse of the foot overbridge (FOB) near the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium Sep 21 submitted its report Tuesday, saying that no sub-standard material was used in the construction.

“The committee has pointed out that methodology of construction was not given by the design consultant. The contractor P & R Infraprojects Ltd devised the procedure on its own, and did not obtain necessary approval for the same. No substandard material has been found to have been used in the work,” an official said.

However, according to the report submitted by the committee, design of the pedestrian overbridge by Tandon Consultants Private Ltd (TCPL), the consultants engaged by Public Works Department (PWD), are generally in order.

“However, detailed design of the joining of the suspender with the deck of the FoB was not done,” the officer added.

The committee comprised H.S. Dogra, a former director general of Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and Ashok Gupta, from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

The Delhi government had ordered a probe into the 95-metre-long bridge collapse, which was a major embarrassment during the runup to the Commonwealth Games. The army was called in to build an alternate bridge after the accident.