Jalvayu Vihar wall collapse case: Noida authority completes probe

NOIDA: The Noida authority has completed its probe into the wall collapse case in which four workers were killed on September 20 last year, officials said on Sunday. The probe has been completed after more than three months, fixing responsibility of the engineers and the contractor, who was awarded the tender for the drain construction work.

Due to negligence, four workers were killed and seven injured in the wall collapse when a drain construction was underway at Jalvayu Vihar in Sector 21 area of Noida.

The authority’s chief executive officer (CEO) Ritu Maheshwari on September 21, 2022 formed a committee headed by additional chief executive officer Manvendra Singh and consisting of a chief architect and town planner and other officials to ‘fix responsibility’ into the wall collapse case.

The CEO had given 15 days to complete the probe but it took more than three months to submit the same, said officials. The probe said that the committee of engineers who made the estimate to build a drain around the Jalvayu Vihar housing society in Sector 21 is at fault.

“On the basis of evidence, the committee has come to the conclusion that there were faults in the construction of the drain around the boundary wall. The timing of the construction work was also flawed as it was the rainy season. Also, no map was approved of the boundary wall that collapsed during the excavation work for constructing the drain,” said Manvendra Singh, who is heading the committee that submitted the report to the Noida authority CEO.

However, the CEO returned the report, directing the committee to name the officials who are at fault.

The committee fixed the onus of the wall collapse on the contractor, who is still on the run and the committee of engineers without naming them, said authority officials.

“We will revise the report in accordance with the instructions of the Noida authority CEO in the next 10 days and then submit it once again,” said Singh.