One more body was recovered from the debris of the collapsed Majerhat railway overbridge on Wednesday evening, taking the toll to two. Rescue operations continued till late on Wednesday evening with cranes and heavy machines trying to remove the debris.
Some workers engaged in the nearby Metro Rail project had gone missing and were feared to have been buried under the debris when the structure came crashing on Tuesday. The body recovered on Wednesday is that of Pranab Dey, a Metro Rail worker who hailed from Murshidabad. More than 20 people have suffered injuries in the mishap.
Teams of the National Disaster Response Force, fire brigade and Disaster Management Group of Kolkata Police tried to cut through the concrete slab decks that had caved in to look for survivors. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was away in Darjeeling on Tuesday, visited the accident site and announced a compensation of ₹5 lakh to the kin of the deceased.
On Wednesday afternoon, Kolkata Police registered at a suo motu case at Alipore police station against “unknown persons” under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Going by the complaint, the police is to identify the agency that was in charge of maintenance of the busy bridge, located on the Diamond Harbour Road, and that is to be blamed for the collapse. A tender for its surface repairing was floated in April this year by the Executive Engineer, Behala Sub Division of Public Works Department (PWD) but so far department has not gone public about it, saying that the five decade-old bridge was maintained by them.
Mamata’s charge
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the Metro Rail project caused vibrations in the ground and the locals had raised the issue with the authorities. “We all looking at all angles. The entire matter will be probed,” she said, referring to the police complaint.
Kolkata: Rescue and relief works in progress at the site of Majerhat Bridge collapse, in Kolkata, Wednesday, Sep 5, 2018. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra) (PTI9_5_2018_000093B)
But Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), which is overseeing the construction of the Joka- BBD Metro Rail project, described the collapse of the Majerhat bridge as a “mid-span failure of RCC (reinforced cement concrete) girder”.
“There is no relationship of the Metro construction with this mid-span failure of RCC girder,” said A.K. Roy, chief project manager, RVNL (Kolkata).
