MMRDA clueless on monorail mishap

Two days after an accident that occurred at a Monorail construction site in Currey Road, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is clueless as to who is responsible for the incident. The authority is still investigating the incident in order to fix responsibility for it.

The accident occurred on Saturday afternoon when aluminium trays supporting electric cables came off, bringing traffic at N.M. Joshi Marg to a grinding halt for over five hours. However, there were no casualties or injuries.

A preliminary report of the incident is yet to be prepared. Sanjay Khandare, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, said on Monday, “We are not saying anything at the moment as to who is responsible for the mishap. Our team is still conducting investigations and it is not known whether the contractor or the authority is responsible for the mishap.”

Mr Khandare added, “Ideally, a construction site is under the responsibility of the contractor, but we are not blaming anyone as yet.”

The 2008 project was awarded to Larsen & Toubro and Scomi Engineering of Malaysia to carry out the work concerned. Since then, MMRDA has had many ups and downs with respect to the project, such as the rolling stock creating technical issues and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) coming down heavily on MMRDA citing irregularities in the work being carried out.

Monorail has been in the news since it was commissioned in 2014. Its services came to a halt twice between July and August due to a tyre burst and tyre fall.