Engineer: Vesić's claim that there was no work on the canopy of the Railway Station in Novi Sad is incorrect

Geological engineer Zoran Đajić, who worked until March 2023 on the reconstruction of the Railway Station building in Novi Sad, said today that the claim of the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of Serbia, Goran Vesić, that there was no work on the canopy, is not correct.

"Work was done on the canopy. In the first phase, the repair of the ceramics that was on the ceiling part was done, and only the make-up of that canopy was done. In the second phase, during the work on the facade of the building and the work on the reconstruction of the stone cladding, I sent in March 2023 one report to the contractors and everyone received those reports from the ministry and below, in which I requested that the marble slabs be removed from the front of the building and that the floor be checked under those marble slabs, that the floor be repaired and that new marble slabs be placed, which was otherwise foreseen by the project," he said in a guest appearance on N1 television.

He added that the canopy was hung on the weights that held it and said that there is a possibility that they corroded.

"She had no posts. She stood with the cantilever tied to the building, and carrying the whole canopy were weights that were attached to the top of the building right at that jagged, distinctive part. If those panels had been removed then, it would probably have been noticed that the base is not good and it might even be noticed that those weights might have corroded," said Đajić.

According to him, the contractor decided to just repaint the panels that needed to be replaced.

"The base of those panels should have been repaired. That it was not done on the canopy is not correct, because the canopy was subsequently covered with glass and the designer in 1965, when he was working on the station, he was working on the consoles and the front part was connected, and in between there were empty spaces and those weights held that amount of concrete and that material," he said.

Đajić stated that it is known who was the contractor and which companies did the work and assessed that the minister must resign.

He added that he contacted the media because he too feels responsible for the victims that occurred and for the accident that happened.

"I keep thinking about the fact that those plates had been removed, maybe it would have been possible to see the condition of those weights. I feel my responsibility here, maybe I could have insisted on it further. However, of course, I wrote recommendations on what to do, I sent reports to 20 addresses, all my reports are available, and in one of those reports, that is February 2023, I wrote that those plates must be removed and that the foundation under those plates must be fixed," the engineer stated.

Minister Vesić said yesterday that part of the station, that is, the canopy, has not been reconstructed, stating that this can be seen in the construction permit. Today is the Day of Mourning in Serbia, declared due to the death of 14 people when the roof of the Railway Station in Novi Sad fell on them. A three-day mourning was declared in Vojvodina.