Andhra government suspends 7 officials over temple wall collapse

THe Andhra Pradesh regime ordered reprieve of septet officials and initiated crook process against a civil contractor, allegedly responsible for the death of seven devotees in a wall collapse on the queue at Sri Varaha Narasimha Swamy temple at Simhachalam in Visakhapatnam on April 30, officials familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.The action was taken based on an interim report submitted by a three-member committee, headed by S Suresh Kumar, principal secretary, municipal administration and urban development department and comprising inspector general of police Ake Ravi Krishna and engineer-in-chief (irrigation) M Venkateswar Rao as members.The officials who faced the suspension include temple executive officer K Subba Rao, who allegedly ordered the construction of the wall and ignored safety measures, besides ensuring lack of supervision; temple executive engineer DG Srinivasa Raju, tourism department executive engineer K Ramana, temple divisional engineer KSS Murthy, tourism divisional engineer RVV LR Swamy; tourism assistant engineer P Madan Mohan and temple assistant engineer K Babji.All these engineers have failed in their duties in supervising the wall construction and preventing substandard work, the report said.The government ordered initiation of criminal proceedings against contractor K Lakshminarayana, who undertook unauthorised work, ignored defects, and is directly responsible for the death of seven devotees. He was also placed under blacklist, pre-empting him from taking part in any other work.A senior official of the endowments department said the committee also found fault with Endowments Commissioner Ramachandra Mohan for failing to coordinate between endowments and tourism departments and taking no action despite being aware of construction issues during repeated visits.Quoting some of the findings of the committee, the official said the construction of wall adjacent to the queue line was taken up without proper design or structural drawings. The wall was not capable of withstanding heavy loads. “It was constructed directly on the ground without a foundation. Poor-quality bricks and low-grade cement were used. The wall was not cured properly after construction,” he said.The committee found that temporary sheds for the festival were supported against the already weak wall, and strong winds and rain worsened the situation. “Basic engineering principles were ignored in constructing the wall along the devotees’ pathway,” the official said, quoting the report.