Staff Reporter:
A young man named Abul Kalam of Shariatpur district was killed on the spot when a slacked bearing pad of the metro rail bridge, used to prevent vibration during train movement, fell on him at city’s Farmgate area yesterday noon. According to metro rail authorities and eyewitnesses, the incident took place around 12.15 pm when the man was drinking tea at a footpath tea stall there.
Metro Rail services were suspended immediately after the incident.
Later, the metro rail service from Uttara North to Agargaon part resumed hours after the accident but the service in the rest of the track remained suspended.
The government yesterday formed a five-member committee to investigate into the Metrorail incident causing the death of a pedestrian at Farmgate and announced compensation for the victim’s family.
Adviser for Road Transport and Bridges Fouzul Kabir Khan yesterday said that Secretary Abdur Rouf of the Bridges Division would lead the committee which was asked to submit its report within two weeks.
He said Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and Military Science and Tech-nology Institute (MIST) experts were incorporated in the committee for technical and engineering re-view of the metro rail system.
This was the second such nearly identical incident after September 18, 2024 near the same spot and Khan said the committee would also review the investigation report of the previous accident.
After visiting the scene he said that the committee’s work also included preparing necessary recommen-dations to prevent such accidents in future and identify the people responsible for the accident.
Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser for Defense and National Solidarity Development Retired Lieu-tenant General Abdul Hafiz accompanied the adviser.
The adviser said the government would immediately provide Taka 5 lakh as compensation to the victim’s family and arrange employment for a qualified family member, if available, in Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd, which operates the metro rail system.
