Kolkata: Amid the relief and rescue operations after an under construction bridge collapsed in Kolkata, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay brazenly claimed that such accidents are not new. "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 said.
His statement comes at a time when the state government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is facing flak for the incident. At least 24 people have died and 100 people are still feared to be trapped under the debris. NDRF and the Army officials working at the site fear there is sleek hope of finding any more survivors from under the debris.
Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi accused the 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 said.
"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," he said.
Armymen along with Kolkata Police, disaster management team, NDRF and fire brigade personnel engaged in rescue work throughout the night, pulled out three more bodies from underneath the rubble of concrete.
About 60-metre-long portion of the under-construction flyover collapsed on Thursday afternoon on a congested road intersection in Kolkata.
Five officials of the Hyderabad-based construction company IVRCL have been detained in connection with the mishap. Kolkata Police has registered a case against the Hyderabad-based construction firm under sections 304, 308 and 407 of the IPC and sealed the local office of company engaged in the flyover's construction.
The West Bengal government has ordered a high-level probe into the incident that triggered a blame game with the opposition accusing the Mamata Banerjee government of callousness.
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