UK-headquartered consultant Mott MacDonald says it is “distressed” by the deaths of four workers on a construction project it is managing in India.
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Four men were killed and five more were hospitalised on Sunday, 7 October when iron shuttering surrounding an 18-storey building under construction in Noida, near New Delhi, collapsed.
Today it was reported that officials warned of improper safety procedures on the project in May.
“We are distressed to hear of the accident in Noida’s Sector 94 and our thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends,” the company said in a statement to GCR.
It continued: “Our immediate priority is to provide all the support we can to the authorities and our client and to assist with the investigations.”
The developer, BPTP, told Indian media that the work was being undertaken by Ahulawalia Contractors, while the project is being managed by Mott MacDonald.
The building is in the “Capital City” development owned by BPTP on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.
A BPTP spokesperson said the collapse happened after a tractor trolley carrying sand hit the shuttering, but a joint investigation into the cause by police and the labour department is underway.
Today it was reported that government safety inspectors found faults in the project’s safety measures during an inspection in May.
According to the Times of India, the labour department served two notices to BPTP over the faults, and recommended a case be filed against the builder, but no action was taken.
Three of the men who died were on scaffolding at the time of the collapse, while the fourth was driving the vehicle that struck the shuttering, the Times reported.
Image: BPTP’s building in Capital City, Noida, India, photographed in May 2018 (BPTP)
