Kolkata: A day after the police filed an FIR against IVRCL, the company which was building now collapsed Vivekananda Road flyover in Kolkata’s Girish Park, the firm expressed shock and disbelief at the incident, terming it as an ‘accident’.
“We are also shocked that flyover collapsed and want to know why it happened. This is an accident, how can we fix responsibility on someone,” the legal head of IVRCL said, adding that “the incident was not a case of negligence”.
“The material used in constructing 59 pillars was used in the 60th pillar also. Unfortunately, it collapsed,” the official added.
The construction company further said that several possibilities including a bomb blast should be investigated.
Meanwhile, the city police has filed 3 FIRs against the company so far and detained 5 of its officials from Kolkata.
When the company lawyer was asked about the FIRs, he said that ‘the construction company was not aware of any FIR against the firm or its employees’.
Yesterday, an IVRCL official had said ‘it was nothing but God’s act’, even as another official denied any quality or technical issue as the cause behind the incident.
Around 250 metres of the under-construction 2.2 kilometre-long Vivekananda Road flyover crashed onto dense traffic around 12.30 pm on Thursday near one of the city’s most important business districts, Burrabazar.
On the other hand, Army today said that their teams have been working relentlessly to clear the debris and no more bodies are expected to be retrieved under the rubble.
"The army rescue teams have been operating throughout the night along with the teams from civil defence, police and the NDRF, trying to remove the debris from the affected area. The focus of operations is now on debris removal and clearance of the road so that normalcy is restored. As of this morning no more bodies are expected to be found under the rubble. The GOC Bengal Area (Lt. Gen Rajeev Tewary) is monitoring the progress of the Army teams closely," a statement issued by the Army said.
The death toll in yesterday's flyover collapse that took place in Girish Park area has risen to 24 as per latest reports. The rescue work has been going on war footing. The military and NDRF teams are using heavy earth movers and gas cutting paraphernalia to complete the operation as soon as possible but several more hours will be needed to clear the debris.
The state government has announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh to next of kin of the victims and Rs 2 lakh to gravely injured people.
