‘Blatant disregard’: Uttara collapse site did not have safety net, crane operator was not licenced

At least five of a family were crushed to death as BRT project girder falls on passing car

Ignoring warnings, construction companies working on the projects assigned to them by the Bus Rapid Transit authorities, or BRT, on the streets of Dhaka and Gazipur betray a blatant disregard for public safety, according to the stakeholders.

Moreover, it turns out the operator who was at the control panel of the hydraulic crawler crane -- which failed to hold firmly onto a girder and the subsequent collapse took away five lives from a single family -- did not have the required licence to drive heavy machinery.

CCTV footage and accounts from witnesses confirmed that when the crane was being operated to lift the girder to be set on a pier, vehicles were passing underneath as that part of the street was not closed, which should have been, in line with safety protocol.

An official at the Bridges Authority, who had requested anonymity, said the construction companies have been indifferent to safety measures despite being asked to maintain them many times.

“A letter was sent to the contractor to strengthen safety as there have been several accidents earlier. But nothing worked. And the driver who was operating the crane didn't even have a proper licence. He was operating a huge crane with a licence to drive a light vehicle,” he said.

Director of Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Company Limited AKM Manir Hossain Pathan, however, blamed drivers of private vehicles for their lack of safety awareness.

During a conversation on Monday evening, he told bdnews24.com that protocol dictates that only a single lane, farther from the operation site, should remain open for traffic while a crane is in operation. However, during peak hours, motorists sometimes find ways to move through the blocked parts.

Pathan, also the chief engineer of the Department of Road Transport and Highways, conceded that the construction companies pay little attention when they are reminded about maintaining safety protocol.

“On multiple occasions, I warned them [construction companies] about the lack of safety measures. At a recent review meeting at the ministry [Bangladesh Ministry of Transport and Bridges], where ADB [Asian Development Bank] representatives were also present. I even signed on to conduct a safety audit,” he said.

Prof Md Hadiuzzaman, director at BUET’s Accident Research Institute, said lack of accountability and responsibility is the main reason for such incidents.

“This is not new. Accidents [on the BRT projects sites] have been taking place since 2019. Even then, the authorities could not hold the construction companies responsible for the incidents or made them accountable,” he said.

“Authorities must invest in traffic management and in putting place risk-avoidance protocols in such large projects, but I doubt whether any such minimum standards were followed in the BRT project.”

BRT is a concept of dedicated bus lanes implemented in many cities worldwide. In Dhaka, the north section of Bangladesh’s first BRT Line 3 corridor will cover a distance of 20.2 km between Shahjalal International Airport, Tongi and Gazipur, according to the project’s website.

The BRT corridor from the airport to Gazipur will have one BRT lane in each direction located in the middle of the road and only for the use of BRT buses.

But a long delay in the project increased the cost of the construction.

Six flyovers are under construction along the corridor for “better traffic flow”.

Six elevated sections, including 4.5 km BRT lanes from House Building to the Cherag Ali point, are being constructed.