Staff Correspondent:

The High Court (HC) on Wednesday issued a rule asking authorities to explain why the victim’s family will not get Tk 2 crore compensation for a recent fatal accident caused by a metro rail technical fault.

The court also asked an expert committee to submit a probe report within the next 30 days on Sunday’s accident that left Abul Kalam Azad dead.

The report must also focus on the overall safety measures adopted at the Dhaka metro rail, as per the rule issued by Justice Fahmida Kader and Justice Asif Hasan.

During the hearing, Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun and Advocate Tanvir Ahmed moved in favour of the writ filed in this regard.

On Sunday noon, a pedestrian named Abul Kalam Azad, 36, was killed when a bearing pad, weighing at least 140 kilograms, fell on him from the Farmgate metro rail station.

Two others were also injured in the incident.

It was the second such incident in about a year. The previous incident fortunately did not cause any casualties.

On Monday, Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun filed the aforementioned writ in public interest, asking the HC to require authorities to form a probe committee. The committee must probe the qualities of all the bearing pads used in the Dhaka metro rail and the flyovers constructed across the country, the writ petitioner demanded.

Earlier, BUET officials raised concerns over the quality of the bearing pads used in the metro rail. However, the metro rail authorities and others under the then fascist Awami League government did not address the concerns.

A bearing pad is installed at the junction of a pillar and the deck that carries the metro train. They are made from reinforced elastomeric rubber to help absorb the weight of incoming trains, and limit frictions during train movement.