NEW DELHI: The ministry of road transport and highways (MORTH) has formed an investigation committee to probe collapse of a section of an under-construction tunnel which resulted in the death of one worker and left two others injured in Kota district of Rajasthan on Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.”An investigation team of Domain experts comprising of SK Nirmal, DGRD – MoRTH (Retd), AK Shrivastava, ADG – MoRTH (Retd.) and Alok Pandey, M/s Elegant Engineering has been constituted. The committee will visit the site on December 2 to ascertain the causes of incident happened and remedial measures to avoid such occurrence in future,” said the ministry officials.According to the ministry, on Saturday, a sudden collapse of the median side vertical wall occurred under “Construction of 8-lane Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (Tunnel) outside of Tunnel in Kota. The wall had been protected and stabilized with Shotcrete and rock bolts, as per the approved design drawings. Unfortunately, the collapse buried five workers, including one telehandler operator,”it stated. “The incident occurred during reinforcement binding activities, and it was observed that all workers were equipped with the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) i.e. Helmat, gumboot safety jacket & others,” the ministry added.The workers who got trapped under the debris were rescued and rushed to a hospital, where Shamsher Singh (33) was declared dead.Rescue operations were swiftly launched with four workers being pulled from the debris and rushed to the hospital. However, despite efforts to save him, one worker, Shamsher Singh (33), was declared dead due to the severity of his injuries.In response to the incident, MoRTH has imposed a penalty of Rs 50 lakh on the contractor, M/s DilipBuildcon Ltd.–M/s Altis-Holding Corporation (DBL-AHC JV), and issued a show-cause notice to the Team Leader of the Authority Engineer from M/s ICT, in association with M/s Hexa Co and M/s Nokang Infra Pvt. Ltd., for lapses in safety measures that led to the accident.The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is taking all necessary steps to ensure that remedial measures are implemented to address safety concerns and prevent similar incidents in the future.
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