NHA, ECIL men plead ‘not guilty’

KARACHI: Men charged in the case of the Sher Shah bridge collapse pleaded not guilty in the court of a district and sessions judge on Thursday after they were indicted.

Additional District and Sessions judge West Gulshan Ara Chandio framed charges against NHA chairman Altaf Hussain Chaudry, former chairman Farrukh Javaid, the authority’s Raja Nowsherwan, its project manager Yousuf Barakzai, former general manager Tahseenul Haq and former planning officer Syed Najamul Hassan and the Engineering Consultants International Ltd’s Zaheer Mirza, Khalid Mirza and Naveed Mirza. The court fixed Sept 15 for the prosecution witnesses’ statements to be recorded.

According to the prosecution, the Sher Shah bridge collapsed on September 1, 2007, due to the negligence of the accused. Five people were killed and 14 others were injured, while more than six cars were damaged when the bridge at Paracha Chowk collapsed. The FIR, No 181/2010, was registered on the orders of the Supreme Court on April 7 2010 at Site police station.   The bridge collapsed 25 days after its inauguration.

Former president General Pervez Musharraf had inaugurated the one-kilometre long Shershah Bridge over the Karachi Northern Bypass that collapsed 25 days after its inauguration.

In February, the Senate Standing Committee on Communications was told that the NHA chairman had approved the faulty design of Shershah Bridge, despite serious objections raised by technical experts who warned that the bridge might collapse and result in heavy losses in terms of life and property. In February 2009, an inquiry report into the collapse was released on the directives of President Asif Ali Zardari. According to the report, the design consultant firm was responsible for the collapse and it recommended it be blacklisted.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2010.