Kolkata bridge collapse: TMC claims design faults; BJP alleges criminal negligence
Kolkata: Accusing the erstwhile Left Front regime of making a "faulty plan" for building the flyover, that collapsed yesterday, TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay today said there were complaints among the locals about its planning.
"The plan and design of the flyover were made during the Left regime. There were faults in the planning and design of the flyover. The locals had complained about the planning of the flyover but at that time 60 percent work was done. There were also discussions whether the design could be changed," Bandopadhyay, TMC MP from Kolkata North, told reporters.
Asked if there was a hurry on behest of the state government to complete the work before the Assembly election, Bandopadhyay said, "Why will the state government rush to complete the work? The government can't inaugurate the bridge as the model code of conduct is on. The work was going on in its own pace."
Meanwhile, the death toll due to the flyover collapse rose to 24 as three more bodies were recovered from underneath the piles of debris.
About 60-metre-long portion of the under-construction Vivekananda flyover had collapsed yesterday.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Muktar Abbas Naqvi, Friday accused TMC-led state government of "criminal negligence" in relief work and alleged that it was engaged in a "competition on corruption" with the previous Left Front dispensation resulting in the flyover collapse.
"The Chief Minister and the ruling Trinamool Congress have indulged in petty politics of accusing the previous Left Front government. It is not the time to accuse the previous government.
"If the previous Left Front government had indulged in corruption, then why didn't the TMC government stop it after coming to power? It seems a competition on corruption was on between the two. And the flyover collapse is a result of it," Naqvi told reporters here.
"We feel that the state government was casual in its approach in conducting the relief work. Had they been more pro-active, the relief work could have started much earlier. It is a clear case of criminal negligence on the part of the state government," the Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs said.
"We feel that a CBI inquiry should be initiated into the incident... All the culprits, however big they may be, should be arrested. The state should request for a CBI inquiry. This incident is a clear case of rampant corruption regarding the construction of flyover," Naqvi said.
