Introduction
On March 31, 2015, there was a huge tragedy on the streets of Kolkata, the capital of the state of West Bengal. The flyover that was meant to be completed according to the first deadline in the year 2010 fell down with a loud sound, bringing underneath it several people and vehicles. It is confirmed that as many as 24 people have so far lost life, leaving scores injured. Many of the injured people are in various hospitals with serious injuries. Whom should be held responsible for such a tardy work that brought death and destruction to many people in the city? In this blog post, let us see the real story behind the flyover collapse.
Bridge Collapse
A day after the collapse of a flyover in Kolkata, many details have started coming out about its tardy progress. This flyover construction was meant to be over by 2010. Its construction had started in the year 2008-9 period. Its constructions had missed at least 3 or 4 deadlines, the last of the deadlines would have been the end of this year (2016). Due to several extensions, the cost of the construction of this flyover quadrupled over a period of 7 years. Despite several extensions, the 2.2KM-long bridge was nowhere near completion. The flyover was being constructed by a Hyderabad-based infrastructure development company IVRL. The immediate response from the construction company was “the act of God”. The callous attitude of the construction company was severely criticized by people from all walks of life. Under fire due to the bridge collapse, another company official tried to explain away the expression “the act of God”.
Reason for the Collapse
The main reason for this accident is the callous attitude of Bapus and the political leaders who patronize them. The Hyderabad-based company was in fact a blacklisted one. Despite its dubious work record, the task of building the flyover over a busy junction in the heart of Kolkata city was handed over to this company. Now the political parties are now involved in the blame game, each one is trying to absolve itself while blaming others. Despite of presents of standard rules and procedures, the government staffers have overlooked certain criteria and awarded the work to this dubious company. The staffers and their patronizing politicians would have got huge commissions for that from this company. It has to be probed to bring the justice to people who have lost life in this gruesome accident.
