News: GMDA Makes Engineers Liable for Site Safety After Pit Crash-23-04-2026
Executive engineers of the GMDA must now certify safety at every project site and will be held responsible for accidents caused by negligence, CEO PC Meena said in an order issued on Wednesday.
The order follows an incident on April 18, a Saturday, when a car driven by a city-based professor fell into an uncovered pit dug by GMDA for a stormwater drain on Hamilton Road near Galleria Market. She was injured and remained trapped in the overturned car for almost 15 minutes before a passerby rescued her.
Under the order, all executive engineers must inspect construction projects in their jurisdiction and submit a certificate confirming that adequate safety measures are in place. Where measures are lacking, they must report the action taken against the contractor, including whether a penalty has been imposed.
When recommending payment of a contractor’s bill, the engineer must ensure safety measures exist at the site. If they do not, the bill documents must explicitly show that the penalty amount has been recovered.
Weekly compliance certificates on public safety are to go to the chief engineer, who must ensure they are filed for each ongoing project. The order states that if an accident occurs because mandatory safety measures were not followed, the engineering wing "shall be held responsible for the lapse".
