Expectedly the inquiry ordered by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in to the fly over bridge mishap at Bomikhal here, twice in less than a year, has found fault with the private construction firm Panda Infraprojects Pvt Ltd and let the government engineers scot free while no attempt is being made in to the credentials of the firm where allege black money of political bigwigs are parked.

The three-member official committee, which submitted its report to the government found that the firm had not adopted safety measures, the labourers were unskilled etc.

The probe was confined to the 3 May mishap when a labourer was killed and another injured. Works Minister Prafulla Mallik told media persons that show cause notices will be issued to government officials and engineers who were to oversee the construction work.

He said the government has decided to take up the remaining construction work of the flyover at Bomikhal and the other flyover in Lingaraj temple area while terminating the work given to Panda Infra.

Works department will take up the remaining work of the flyover at Bomikhal at an estimated cost of Rs 1-2 crore while the construction of the roof of the two spans of the flyover bridge near Lingaraj temple would be completed at a cost of Rs 50-60 lakh,” he said.

READ: Labourer dies in another accident at under-construction overbridge site

Asked about the other fly over bridge works taken by the same private firm at Sambalpur and Jatni, the Minister said legal issues pertaining to cancellation of the two other work are being examined by the department.

It is pertinent to note that the 3 May mishap was the second on the same under construction fly over. The first instance of a portion of the bridge caving in had occurred in September 2017 and a passerby was killed.

Strangely however the same firm was asked to continue with the work. Opposition Congress and BJP had raised a hue and cry pointing out that black money of ruling BJD leaders had been parked in the company and it was not only favoured with several contracts but given due protection.

In fact the BJP is on a relay hunger strike at the bridge site since last three days demanding sacking of the minister and arrest of concerned engineers.

The All Odisha Contractors’ Association has condemned the report of the probe committee. Blaming the contractor is unfortunate, where were the engineers who are to supervise and monitor the construction work, questioned the Association police on Thursday arrested Prasant Padhi, one of the directors of the Panda Infra company, in connection with the Bomikhal flyover mishap.

Meanwhile, the police which had arrested the Pratap Panda on 4 May, on Thursday arrested another director of the company. But in all this, the critical issue of the funding of the private company is not been probed and cleverly avoided, charged the BJP on Thursday. Who has invested in it and who is patronising it to the extent that the firm was allowed to continue work after the 2017 mishap, quizzed the BJP.