Under-construction bridge collapses in West Bengal
An under-construction bridge collapsed in Kakdwip area of West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district on Monday in third such incident in state in September.
No one was injured in the incident that took place about 93 km away from Kolkata, district magistrate Y Ratnakara Rao said.
“Early morning on Monday, the bridge caved in. No one was injured. Our officers have reached the spot,” said Tathagata Basu, superintendent of police, Sundarbans district.
The DM said work to clear the debris has started. The area has been cordoned off to stop people from going near the bridge, the DM said, adding that engineers were trying to ascertain the reason behind the collapse.
Minister of state, department of Sundarbans affairs, Manturam Pakhira alleged that the support provided to girders was removed before the required time and the construction agency kept the department engineers in the dark.
The department also lodged a police complaint against the construction agency. A case has been registered under IPC section 336 (rash or negligent act that may endanger human life or the personal safety of others).
A professor of civil engineering at Jadavpur University said, “Usually three factors are responsible for such disasters — design flaws, poor quality of materials and poor construction methods.”
The structure that collapsed on Monday was being built over Kalnagini river at a cost of ₹28 crore. It was supposed to help in management of devotees who reach Gangasagar, the second most popular Hindu religious fair after Kumbh Mela in January.
Earlier, a portion of a bridge at Majerhat in south Kolkata had collapsed on September 4, killing three persons and injuring more than 24. Three days later, on September 27, another bridge had collapsed near Siliguri in north Bengal, leaving a truck driver injured.
The second incident had come a day after chief minister Mamata Banerjee raised a red flag saying as many as 20 bridges in Kolkata and Howrah were past their “expiry dates”.
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