MOGHBAZAR-MOUCHAK FLYOVER Safety issues ignored all through [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

MOGHBAZAR-MOUCHAK FLYOVER Safety issues ignored all through

Local March 19, 2017

The construction of Moghbazar-Mouchak Flyover has been going on ignoring safety measures for pedestrians and the workers as well since the beginning apparently in the absence of proper monitoring.
The construction firms have ensured no safety gears even after a number of deadly incidents causing death of at least four people and the issuance of a High Court order, local people and experts alleged.
The flyover is being constructed under three sections – Moghbazar section by Simplex-Navana JV, Mouchak section byMCCC-Toma JV Ltd and Banglamotor-Moghbazar-Mouchak by MCCC-SEL-UDC JV.
Different types of vehicles, rickshaws and pedestrians use the road on which the construction is going on.
Neither any safety net nor any boundary was found during a visit to the construction site at Malibagh in the past week. The construction workers had no safety helmet, jacket and gloves.
Buses, cars and other vehicles were moving under the flyover while over 100 vehicles were parked there.
A number of workers were found taking rest under the under-construction flyover at about noon while five security guards were there having no safety gears.
Many power supply lines for welding were found here and there without any safety measure.
A worker, injured in the collapse of a girder of the flyover at Malibagh on March 14, said that they had no safety measures at the time of the accident.
A worker was killed and two other, including a Local Government Engineering Department engineer, were maimed in the girder collapse.
Local people said that they used to see the workers to climb the flyover without any safety gears such as helmet, safety jacket and net.
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology professor Md Shamsul Hoque alleged that most of the construction firms did not bother with safety issues even for their workers.
‘To reduce occupational hazard, safety measures should be ensured,’ he said.
Toma Group project director Habibur Rahman told New Age that they could not ensure public safety as the construction site was densely populated.
‘We bought huge number of helmets, safety belts, nets and other equipment for our workers,’ he said.
Dhaka South City Corporation chief engineer Farazi Shahabuddin Ahmed said that the construction firms sometimes ignored safety issues.
He said that they had ordered the firms to fence the construction site so that people could not enter in danger area.
Monitoring of the construction would be enhanced, he added.
The High Court on March 26, 2016 asked the authorities concerned to take adequate safety measures in the Moghbazaar-Mouchak flyover area following the death of a worker at the construction site.
In November 2012, 15 people were killed and several were injured when three huge girders of the under-construction Bahaddarhat Flyover collapsed in Chittagong port city.