New Delhi, July 12 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday condoled the death of the five people killed when an underconstruction bridge of the Delhi Metro collapsed in south Delhi and said the Metro construction was being done in haste to meet the deadline of 2010 Commonwealth Games. Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit, however, has denied the allegation.
“It is the second (such) incident in the past 10 months and we have to find out who is responsible for it. The Metro construction is being done in a hurry to meet the deadline of the Games as the Delhi government is lagging behind. We shouldn’t work in haste just because the Commonwealth games are coming up,” Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, told reporters.

The bridge that collapsed Sunday was part of an elevated section of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) new route on the Central Secretariat-Badarpur section. The incident took place at around 5 a.m. at the construction site at Zamrudpur near Amar Colony.

A launching girder along with a portion of the bridge set up on pre-fabricated pillars collapsed. Five people were killed and 15 were injured in the accident.

The section was slated to be open September 2010, a month before the Commonwealth Games next year.

Malhotra said that a bridge had collapsed in Laxmi Nagar earlier and the investigations into that incident were still on.

Delhi Mayor Kanwar Sain, who visited Sunday’s accident site, said: “The Delhi Metro projects are going at a fast pace and the quality of work is being compromised. An enquiry is necessary.”

However, Delhi Chief Minister Dikshit denied allegations that the bridge collapsed due to work being done in haste for the Games.

“It is worrying that this is the second incident in the past few months. It is a lesson for everyone. DMRC carries its work independently and has a good past record. I don’t think it was due to the pressure of Commonwealth Games that the incident happened. There is no pressure that could lead to the collapse,” Dikshit said.