Kolkata bridge collapse is an accident, says builder after act of God' excuse
Hyderabad: The city-based IVRCL, which was constructing the flyover in Kolkata, a portion of which collapsed on Thursday killing 24 people, described the incident as an ‘accident’, a day after another official of the company had dubbed it as an ‘act of God’.
"An act of God was just an expression only to describe that it is under no one's control", P Sita, the construction company's legal team head, told reporters here.
An under-construction flyover in the Burrabazar area of north Kolkata collapsed on Thursday afternoon. The condition of several of the injured was critical and the death toll is likely to go up.
A portion of the ill-fated Vivekananda Setu, which has been under construction since 2009, came crashing down at around 12.35 pm at the crossing of Vivekananda Road and Rabindra Sarani in the densely-populated and congested Burrabazar area. Several people were trapped under the collapsed portion of the flyover. Many vehicles were crushed or damaged and the passengers travelling in them were killed on the spot.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) however said there was little hope of finding any more survivors under the rubble of the flyover, which had been under construction since 2009.
K Panduranga Rao, Group Head (HR & Admin) of the Hyderabad-based company had told reporters yesterday, "It's nothing but a God's act. So far in 27 years we have constructed several number of bridges...such thing (collapse) never happened,"
"We are surprised and extremely shocked. We are there to cooperate with investigation, but investigation takes time", Sita said.
Showing a photograph in the Deccan Chronicle newspaper, she said that it looked like a site of bomb blast. There were various aspects which would be looked into.
Stating that same construction materials were used in building the ongoing flyover, she asked, "Why did this happen? We are anxious to know the reasons".
Regarding the delay, another official of the company said, "78 per cent work of the flyover is over. A number of clearances have not yet come".
Meanwhile, a four-member police team from West Bengal arrived in the city on Friday as part of its probe to question officials of IVRCL after the flyover it was constructing collapsed in Kolkata.
"They have come and are doing investigation," a top police official of Hyderabad Police said.
Kolkata Police yesterday registered a case against the Hyderabad-based construction firm IVRCL under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 407 of the IPC and sealed the local office of the company engaged in flyover's construction.
