Kolkata: Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay on Friday made a sensational statement that he was not only aware that there were serious flaws in the design of the Vivekananda flyover but he had also informed the Mamata Banerjee government about them. He acknowledged that the flyover should have been remodelled but it was not done because the state government would have to incur massive additional expenditure.
The West Bengal police Friday detained ten officials of Hyderabad-based construction company IVRCL, that was building Vivekananda Setu, the Kolkata flyover that collapsed on Thursday killing 24 people.
The detained include few engineers, managers and vice-president of the construction company, a Kolkata police official said.
Mr Bandopahdyay, who was campaigning for his party candidate in Birbhum on Thursday when the Girish Park flyover came crashing down, visited the site of the mishap which falls in his Kolkata North constituency.
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“The plan and design of the flyover were made during the Left regime. There were flaws in the design from the inception and the local residents had even complained about them. They were in fact opposed to the construction of this flyover. I as their elected representative had informed the state government. At one point of time it was even planned that a portion would be demolished and the flyover would be remodelled," he added.
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When asked why this was not done, Mr Bandopadhyay pointed out that by then over 50 per cent of the project was completed and therefore such a move would have entailed a huge expenditure. When asked why he did not press for a change in the design, he said: “ Whom am I (to persist)? I am just a people’s representative. It’s the Maa Maati Maanush government.”
Read: Kolkata flyover collapse: Ten IVRCL executives held
Mr Bandopadhyay also went onto read out a list of other disasters which had taken place in the city in the past to drive the point home that the flyover tragedy was not the first incident of its kind which involved heavy casualties. “Disaster is not a new thing in Kolkata. There have been similar accidents in the past. It could have been more serious but is is god’s grace,” he added.
The West Bengal state government Friday suspended two engineers of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority who were involved in the construction of the flyover.
It also ordered immediate inspection of the remaining portion of the flyover to ascertain its stability and safety.
Kolkata Police had registered a case on Thursday against 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.
Meanwhile, IVRCL described the incident as ‘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.
