‘Zero tolerance’ to U-turn: MMRDA quietly retains Metro Line 4 consultant it threatened to sack after fatal Mulund slab collapse | Mumbai News

The victims — Ramdhani Yadav, 50, who died in the incident, and his relatives Rajkumar Indrajeet Yadav, 45, and Mahendra Pratap Yadav, 52, who were critically injured — were travelling in a rickshaw when the slab collapsed. A fourth person, Deepa Rula, 40, who was in a car nearby, was discharged shortly after the incident.

Following the accident, MMRDA had imposed a Rs 1 crore fine on the general consultant and, in an Authority meeting chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, declared its intention to terminate the consortium. The move was then described as a “sign of zero tolerance policy towards safety violations and work site accidents.”

In February, in a tragic incident in Mumbai, one person was killed and three others were injured after a portion of the parapet wall of the under-construction Mumbai Metro Line 4 collapsed on Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Road in Mulund. (Express Photo by Deepak Joshi)

Officials now say the earlier announcement was based on a “misunderstanding.” While the consortium’s request for additional time to complete the project is still under review, it has not been removed from the project. Instead, it continues to oversee the Wadala–Kasarvadavali stretch, where work has resumed albeit at a slower pace, partly due to the ongoing West Asia conflict. According to senior officials, instead of termination, corrective measures were pursued.

When asked whether the services of DB Hill–LBG consortium as the general consultant for Metro Line 4 were being retained, commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee confirmed.

“The MMRDA held several high level meetings with the DB Hill LBG consortium, in which changes were promised. Several senior members of the team working on Line 4 have been replaced,” said a senior MMRDA official. “Work on the line has resumed, although it is slow due to the West Asia conflict. The pace of all infrastructure projects have slowed down due to it.”

A reason behind keeping the consultant intact, hinted the official, is that the MMRDA depends on a handful of consultants for its metro projects; terminating or blacklisting one would narrow the pool further.

Investigations into the accident revealed that the slab collapse was triggered after the connections securing it to the viaduct were accidentally cut by a welder the night before. In the 11 hours that followed, neither the consultant nor MMRDA engineers intervened before the slab fell.

In its report to the Bombay High Court, MMRDA placed primary blame on the contractor: “There was procedural non-compliance by RAJV (contractor) and insufficient site supervision by the General Consultant during construction activity.” It recommended replacing the entire team responsible for the stretch between Gandhi Nagar and Sonapur.

The probe also flagged lapses within MMRDA’s own ranks, citing inadequate site visits by engineers. Three officials — chief engineer Abhijit Bhishikar, deputy engineer Snehal Sawant, and executive engineer Satyajit Salve — were identified, while a departmental inquiry was ordered against chief engineer Madhukar Kharat. The three are expected to be reinstated soon, officials said. Despite the lapses, a subsequent intensive inspection of the corridor did not reveal any major structural stability concerns.

After over two months in hospital, victims Rajkumar and Mahendra were discharged around ten days ago from the Upasani Hospital, Mulund.

“Rajkumar continues to get therapy a few times a week by doctors who come over,” said Sarvesh, a relative. “He still cannot properly move his left arm and is confined to a wheelchair. But he is talking and eating. Mahendra is comparatively better.”

Both the patients with their family reside in a rented home in Thane, the rent paid by the subcontractor Milan Road Buildtech, which also paid for the hospital bills of the patient. The four injured who were in a car, Deepa Rula, 40, was discharged soon after the incident.

Apart from hospital bills and rent, the injured have not been paid any compensation yet, although the family says talks are on with the subcontractor.