A day after deaths of five people in a girder fall at Uttara, Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Co Ltd (DBRTCL) Managing Director Shafiqul Islam Tuesday said that the contractor company is responsible for the accident.

On Monday (15 August), five members of a family were killed as a 50-60 tonnes girder of BRT-3 Elevated Expressway fell on their car, smashing it to the ground, at Uttara's Jasimuddin road in the capital.

However, the BRT managing director said that construction work was supposed to be halted on 15 August as it was a holiday, so BRT does not know anything about the girder being moved.

The Chinese contractor company can be held responsible for this accident, he told the media after visiting the spot.

Meanwhile, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Md Atiqul Islam has suspended the construction works of the BRT-3 Elevated Expressway.

Earlier in the day, Afran Mondal Babu, the brother of deceased Fahima Akhtar and Jharna Akhtar, filed a case has been filed against the contractor, China Gezhouba (Group) Corporation (CGGC) under sections 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304 (causing death by negligence) of the Penal Code with Uttara West police station on Monday midnight.

Two passengers – a newly married couple Rezaul Karim Hridoy, 26 and Riya Akter, 19 – were rescued, but the rest of the passengers – Jharna Akter, 27, her two children Zakaria, 4, and Jannat, 6, and Hridoy's father Ayub Hossain Rubel, 55, and his mother-in-law Fahima Akter, 38, died on the spot.

The project to create separate lanes for specialised buses across an area of about 20km from Gazipur to the airport is being implemented by three government agencies – the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), the Bangladesh Bridge Authority and the Local Government Engineering Department. Three project directors are in charge of coordinating the work of the three agencies.

The project work that started towards the end of 2012 as part of the plan to finish the construction of the BRT by 2016 has not been completed by one-third in 10 years. During this time, both the project completion tenure and cost have doubled.

Due to slow progress, the revised cost of the project has been estimated at Tk4,268.32 crore after a 109% or Tk2,228.48 crore hike from the initial estimation of Tk2,039.8489 crore. Three donor agencies, including the ADB, are providing Tk2,842.51 crore in loans for the project.