Online Desk: A worker of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway was arrested yesterday in a case filed by a project official accusing him of negligence in the death of a 12-year-old boy who was struck by a rod that fell from the under-construction expressway in Mohakhali. Hasib Hasan, the Banani and Mohakhali site manager, filed the case with Dhaka Railway Police Station, accusing Md Hasan, 32.

In the case statement, Hasib mentioned that the boy died due to a negligent act while the accused was moving the rod from one place to another on the flyover, and that the “5-6-foot rod” fell from his hand. But after the incident, witnesses and employees of adjacent shops yesterday alleged that the elevated expressway authorities had not taken adequate security measures to prevent such an incident on the ground when the workers were working overhead.

During a spot visit yesterday, hours after the boy was struck by the rod in the morning, our correspondent saw workers working on the expressway even as people were walking beneath. The same was noticed at the Mohakhali level crossing where people walk, and vehicles and trains ply under the expressway.

An expressway worker, who was about 100 yards away from the spot where the boy suffered the fatal injury, on condition of anonymity yesterday also said, “No one was deployed beneath to prevent people’s entry there. “We only restrict people’s movement during a major work like lifting girders or viaducts … The authorities usually do not take adequate security measures during minor work on the viaducts,” he had said.

The unknown boy suffered critical injures after an iron rod fell on him from the Expressway as he was walking along the rail tracks beneath the expressway around 9:30am. The rod was stuck in his head and he was declared dead at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The complainant of the case said the rod went through a small hole and fell on the boy.

Contacted, Hasib Hasan, the complaint of the case, said they filed the case against the worker as the rod fell from his hand. Asked whether there was any negligence on the part of the expressway authorities in ensuring proper security on the ground, he said there was no negligence of the authorities. He instead directed this correspondent to talk to the police, saying law enforcers are investigating the case.

Sub-inspector Sekandar Ali of Dhaka Railway Police Station, also the investigation officer of the case, they started investigation after a case was filed. “We are trying to identify the boy. None is yet to come to claim the body at Dhaka Medical College Hospital,” he said.

On August 15 last year, five people were killed after a segment of a box girder of the BRT project fell on a car at the Jasimuddin Road intersection on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway. The crane that was lifting the girder segments toppled. The concerned officials of China Gezhouba Group Co Ltd, the contractor firm, and the crane operator were sued for the deaths. Rab later arrested the crane operator, his helper and seven others in this connection.