Mumbai: The recent accidents involving metro rail has left a question unanswered. Who is responsible for the accident?
As India grows its infrastructure, and companies and governments work together to make it, is it time to put new systems in place?
The recent accidents have raised questions about corporate responsibility in project safety standards.
According to the International Labour Organisation, India's accident frequency is higher at 165 per 1000 workers. Compare to the global standard of 12 accidents per 1000 workers.
India plans to build over 70,000 kilometers of roads and bridges in the next five years in addition to the over 400 kilometers of city specific metro rail across India. All these projects will be based on government-private sector partnerships.
This could force both the government and companies to start working on international standards for India's infrastructure.
"At each and every stage there are checks and balances. There is review, supervision. I can speak from some of the international examples while a road is being built at each and every stage a scoop is taken and tested," said Samir Bhatia, Senior Director & Infra Head, Deloitte.
As a developing country, India will continue to face this paradox of speedy infrastructure versus safe infrastructure.
And it's incidents like these that will force both the corporate sector and the government to take stock and put in place systems that could either make someone accountable for mishaps or prevent them entirely.