Dismantle remaining part of Kolkata flyover, says Road safety expert

The remaining portion of the under-construction Vivekananda Road flyover, a part of which collapsed on March 31, should be dismantled and the reasons for its collapse looked into, road safety expert Kamaljit Soi said on Tuesday.

Soi said that a compromise with prescribed guidelines and corruption may have resulted in “shortcomings” in the flyover’s construction, which led to its collapse and resultant deaths of 26 people and injuries to over 90 others in north Kolkata’s Posta area.

“Whenever we construct a flyover, we do a structural stability testing. Probably, the company lagged in soil and material testing. I think soil testing was not done,” Soi, a member of the National Road Safety Council of the Road Transport and Highways Ministry, said. “The flyover portion still standing should be dismantled and adequate evaluation of the factors should be done to find out why it collapsed.”