U Novi Sad ended three days of mourning, declared due to a major accident in which 14 people died. Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesić resigned on Tuesday, November 5, but neither he nor anyone in charge accepted responsibility for another tragedy that befell Serbia.
Vesić, a law graduate, explained his resignation by saying: "I cannot accept the blame for the death of 14 people because neither I nor the people who work with me have an iota of responsibility for the tragedy that happened", and he resigns as a responsible person for moral reasons, that's why that the accident happened in the department he leads.
Zoran Đajić, a graduate engineer in geology, was engaged as a stone supervisor on the railway station reconstruction project. Part of his work, he says, included monitoring the stone removal process, determining the condition of the substrate, its replacement and repair, as well as the method of stone installation. writes DW.
Designers were warned about omissions from the beginning
Đajić says that even during the reconstruction, he noticed that the background of the marble slabs on the roof of the station was in bad shape and informed the authorities about it.
"On the photos I took, behind those slabs you can see that practically, there is maybe 20 percent of concrete, the rest is rubble, crumpled sacks and so on," explains Đajić.
Photo: Zoran ĐajićĐajić: The background of the marble slabs on the roof of the station was in bad shape, and I informed the authorities about that
He says that's why he issued an order to remove those plates, do a complete examination and repair the surface.
In the report, which the DW editorial office had access to, it is stated that the subcontractor "Starting doo" "was ordered to start dismantling the marble cladding from the facade of wing B (Venčac beli) as well as the marble slabs from the facade of the roof of the building (Sivec)", and that it is necessary to "dismantle carefully in order to preserve all marble slabs that are not damaged".
"If that had been done, I assume that someone who is in charge of that other part - that is statics, that is constructions and so on - supervision and all areas, would have seen what the background is and I assume that someone would have wondered if they should intervene on those weights, did they corrode."
However, the contractor, as he says, did nothing about it.
"On the contrary, I insisted several times at the meetings that it should be done, but they took grease paint, painted those panels, and that's how everything regarding the position of that jagged part of the facade on the southern facade above the canopy was completed," says Đajić.
Very soon after the accident, the citizens started sharing photos on the networks showing that the works were also carried out on the canopy itself, to which a steel structure with glass was added. For Đajić, the videos that show that the entire canopy fell at once, and not in parts, are an additional signal that the load was too great.
"The weights were designed at one time to be able to withstand a certain load per square centimeter. Apparently, that load was added so much that the connection between the weights and the concrete, which was also bad, did not hold up, and then it just collapsed," Đajić explains to DW.
Who is in the chain of responsibility?
The client for the reconstruction of the station was the Railway Infrastructure of Serbia, and the works were carried out by two Chinese companies - "China Railway International Co." Ltd" (CIRC) and "China Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC).
The supervision of the project was entrusted to the Hungarian company "Utiber", which is connected to one of Orban's close associates, Lorinc Mesaros. Utiber was the umbrella company for supervision in all positions, except for the stone position, which was held by Đajić as an external consultant.
Zoran Đajić claims that he regularly informed all of them at weekly meetings.
"At those meetings, everyone from the supervisory side of Utiber was present, several people from the Railways were always present, and occasionally one of the representatives of the ministry was present, but representatives of both Chinese companies were present all the time, which, in the dispute, carried out all these works, and are responsible for absolutely everything, including for their subcontractors", states Đajić.
According to his reports, the monitoring company "Utiber" should have reacted first, which should have asked the company "Strarting" to remove the panels and check the substrate.
Photo: Sanja Kljajić/DWZoran Đajić
However, he emphasizes that he often had the impression "that the company that carried out the work was older than everyone else" and that they gave themselves the right not to follow the orders.
"It happened that some things were not done for a month or two and that some things were done differently than what was said." It is not clear to me, that a company that is a subcontractor can do some things, even though it received an order from the supervision to do otherwise".
Therefore, Đajić believes that the first in the chain of responsibility is the current Minister of Construction, Goran Vesić, but also Tomislav Momirović, who performed this duty in the previous convocation of the Government, as well as their officials who were responsible for these works. The responsibility after them, he says, is borne by the Chinese consortium, the supervisory company "Utiber", as well as the owners and directors of all companies that were subcontractors.
"I said from the first day that I bear my responsibility, that's why I started the whole story." If I had maybe been able to get the subcontractor to replace the slabs, to tear it down - although I tried several times, but they ignored it - maybe some of the welds would have been established, maybe those weights would have come, maybe this wouldn't have happened." , says Đajić.
"We won't let you kill us on the street anymore"
When asked if he now fears for his safety, he says that he has been a participant in all major protests since the 1990s and that he is no longer afraid of anything.
"I would have feared for myself and my life if I hadn't gone public with what I knew." I could not continue to live with it. "I would feel guilty for the families of those who passed away," says Đajić.
He believes that otherwise no one else would have told the truth and the authorities would have shirked the responsibility.
"They react to my statements. Imagine if I didn't go public. No one would talk about this. It would have been the case that she fell of her own accord. I don't give. Not me - not even the citizens now."
He points out that the government financed by the citizens must work in their interest, and that the citizens must not allow "people who know nothing to be found in certain places and to gather them from various sides and place them in positions that decide everyone's lives".
"I want to invite the citizens to try to say: We will not allow you to kill us on the street anymore." They kill us at the crosswalk, they kill us on the street, they kill us everywhere and no one is responsible for it. He can't," Đajić concludes his interview for DW.
