An Independent investigation body, formed to ascertain the causes behind the collapse of a portion of the Northern Bypass bridge, will start probe from Wednesday. This was stated by head of the Prime Minster's Inspection Commission, Lieutenant General Muhammad Farooque Ahmed Khan (Retd), while briefing the press at the National Highway Authority (NHA) here on Monday.
He said that he was heading the Prime Minister's Investigation Commission to facilitate the inquiry committee during its job. Farooque, who is also Chairman of the National Disaster Management (NDM), said that the findings of investigation would not be made public, and made it clear that he had no authority to take sue moto action in the bridge collapse matters. "Investigation will be done by an independent body, comprising the country's credible renowned experts and their findings will be sent to the Prime Minster," he added.
About the committee members, he said that it consisted of Professor Dr Sahibzada Farooq Ahmed Raffiqui, Farooq A. Chaudhry, Zafar Razzak, Professor Dr Sarosh Hashmat Lodhi, Farrukh Hassan Pasha and Munir Ahmed. He said that a lawyer had also been included in the inquiry committee, and added his name would soon be announced.
Presiding over the inquiry committee's meeting on Monday, he said that it would have the access to all documents, including technical and related assistance pertaining to bridge collapse, and added the committee could visit foreign countries for material tests. "The NHA will provide assistance to the inquiry committee as and when needed," he added.
Farooque said whatever evidences were required for commencing investigation, the committee had secured all those evidence from the site of the collapsed bridge. He added that sub-contractors and main contractors involved in the construction of the bridge had been summoned for a meeting on Tuesday. They had been advised to come along with documents regarding the bridge construction, he added.
The Information Department of the Sindh Governor's office would also help the committee to collect all news items appeared so far in the newspapers, he said.
To a question about the tendering of the bridge construction, he said let the committee start its investigation and allow it to pinpoint the reasons for the bridge's collapse, all aspects of the issue would surface.
Farooque pointed out that defects in the bridge had been identified in March last year for which foreign consultants were also contacted. However, the issue could not be resolved despite bridge's rehabilitation and redesigning.
He neither excluded the National Logistic Cell (NLC) nor held it responsible for incident, but said that it was the single project out of hundreds it had so far established across the country.