“21 dead as Kolkata flyover collapses”- The Hindu
In 2008, the CPI(M) Govt. in West
Bengal commissioned a flyover in one of its most congested areas, Girish Park.
The 2km flyover passing over Vivekanand Road was supposed to be ready by 2011
but eventually missed 3 deadlines and at the time of collapse was still under
construction. With state elections just days away, this disaster has become a
political issue. Mamata Banerjee, the current Chief Minister of WB from the TMC
(Trinamool Congress) Party has passed the buck for the unfortunate mishap to
the previous govt. The Hyderabad- based firm, IVRCL (Iragavarapu Venkata Reddy Construction
Limited) responsible for the construction of this flyover has been booked for
culpable homicide by the West Bengal Police Department.
While the disaster is of gargantuan
proportion, unfortunately the construction company has shown little respect for
the lives lost due to the flyover collapse. K Panduranga Rao, Group Head (HR and
Admin), IVRCL told reporters that “It’s nothing but a God’s act. So far in 27
years we have constructed several number of bridges…it (collapse) has never
happened”. This, especially when concerns were raised on quality and safety
issue of the flyover. There were
hundreds trapped under the huge iron and steel girders and the debris until the
morning of 1st of April, 2016. Two IVRCL engineers are also feared
trapped under the mountain of debris, along with 5 others who are injured.
The Rescue Efforts
Army men along with Kolkata
Police Disaster management team, NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) and
fire fighters have been working round the clock to pull out victims. 24 have been
confirmed dead, and from the 90 rescued many are in critical condition. People
from the Burra Bazaar area, around the flyover, in an apparent display of
humanity, have been serving tea and snacks to rescuers and the rescued. The
ones being successfully pulled from under the debris have been rushed to nearby
hospitals.
Reasons behind such tragedies
IVRCL, the company, responsible
for construction of the flyover, a portion of which collapsed on the 31st
of March, has yet to ascertain the cause of collapse. According to them
standard operating procedure has been followed, where 78% of the work was
completed without accident. They claim that the flyover was designed by a
reputed consultant from Kolkata and all clearances and steps to ensure quality
had been taken. The work was commissioned for Rs. 166 crores and was missing
deadlines due to lack of clearances as the Burra Bazaar area is extremely
crowded. However, the fact remains that a concrete structure will collapse if
the deadweight calculation is faulty and therefore there are cracks due to
design flaws. There is also the accusation of usage of substandard material, inadequate
quality inspections; and this is a problem across many construction projects in
India.
There have been similar disasters
across the world like the one in 1958 in Canada, Vancouver, where the cause was
diagnosed to be miscalculation of weight bearing capacity. In Melbourne,
Australia in 1962, a bridge collapsed due to fractures in the pillars due to
extreme cold weather conditions. Then again in Belgium in 1966, a bridge had
collapsed due to faulty design, where the foundation of the piers was not deep
enough.
While forensic team is doing its
investigation, the Vivekanand Flyover collapse seems to be a combination of the
all the reasons mentioned above, in addition to poor quality construction
material. The guilty need to be booked and efforts should be made to prevent
future disasters which are man-made and could have been easily prevented for
want of honesty, ethics and intelligence.
- Ms. Monica Mor
Senior Faculty, INLEAD
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