NHA, consultant firm to be absolved: IO

Hearing of Shershah bridge case is adjourned till November 6 after investigation officer submits final charge sheet.

KARACHI: The hearing of the Shershah bridge collapse case was adjourned on Saturday till November 6 after investigation officer (IO) SP Iftikhar submitted the final charge sheet absolving top officials of the National Highway Authority (NHA) and consultant firm Engineering Consultants International Limited (ECIL) of any responsibility in the collapse.

The bridge collapsed on September 1, 2007, barely a month after it was inaugurated by the then president Pervez Musharraf.

Four people died and 13 others were injured. More than six cars were damaged when the bridge at Paracha Chowk collapsed.

On Saturday, the IO submitted in the charge sheet that project director Muhammad Yousuf Barakzai was appointed after the blueprints were approved and while the construction was under way.

The IO stated that no damage was caused to the government and therefore the accused are not being charge-sheeted.

The government has paid Rs1.5 million to the heirs of each of the victims and Rs0.5 million to each of the injured people, he submitted.

SP Iftikhar contended that there was no cogent evidence which could lead to the conviction of the accused therefore their names may be placed in column two of the FIR - they will not be considered accused, but associated in the case.

They may be charge-sheeted if any evidence against them is found in the future, he said. The IO added that the court may decide their fate.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2010.