Flyover collapse: High Court rejects bail plea of 10 people

It may be mentioned that 26 people were killed and several others injured when a portion of the under-construction Vivekananda Flyover collapsed at the intersection of Vivekananda road and Rabindra Sarani on March 31. Questions were raised by the people from all walks of life about the quality of material used for the construction. 

The police had also initiated a probe in this connection and had arrested officials of the construction company within few days after the incident.  The arrested people had moved to the High Court pleading bail. The state’s counsel submitted before the court on Friday stating that the samples of materials used that was collected from the spot were sent to three laboratories in different parts of the country for testing its quality. 

Reports prepared and sent by two of the laboratories revealed that the quality of materials used for construction of the flyover was not up to the mark while one maintained that there was no problem with the quality of the materials. 

Counsels of the IVRCL officials submitted that experts from Jadavpur University can find out whether the bridge has collapsed for any fault in the part of the construction company and the work to construct the flyover had started only after getting clearance from the concerned authorities. After 

hearing the counsels of both, the court rejected the bail plea of all the 10 people.

It may be recalled that the rescue workers took around two days to extricate all the bodies from under the collapsed portion of the flyover and they had to work the entire night to clear the road.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had cancelled all her political rallies and went to the spot. 

She had supervised the rescue work for the entire day. The state government had also ordered an inquiry by the experts from Jadavpur University to find out the exact reason of the collapse. 

Forensic experts had also collected samples from the spot and had pointed out that pillar number 40 was the epicentre of the disaster.