Govt principally agrees not to allow heavy vehicles

The state government has principally agreed not to allow heavy vehicles on Vivekananda Road flyover.

It is also not in favour of pulling down the structure as the cost of demolition would be excessively high and the exercise may affect some of the century-old adjoining buildings many of which have been declared "dangerous and dilapidated" by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

A stretch on the flyover had collapsed on March 31, 2016, killing 27 people. Following this tragic incident, the state government set up a committee headed by Chief Secretary Basudeb Bandyopadhyay comprising experts from IIT Kharagpur and RITES.

The committee found the design of the flyover faulty. Also, it felt that if steps were taken to demolish the structure, it would be very costly and might affect some of the adjoining buildings which might even lead to their collapse. Accordingly, it was decided that only Light Medium Vehicles (LMV) and two-wheelers would be allowed on the flyover.

The erstwhile Left Front government had taken up construction of the flyover by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) with funds available under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM).

The estimated cost of the project was Rs 164 crore and JnNURM authorities cleared the project in 2008. The construction began in 2009 and it was scheduled to have been completed by 2010. But there was an inordinate delay in constructing the flyover and when the accident took place only 60 percent of the bridge had been completed.

The main reason behind constructing the flyover was easing out traffic jam in vast areas surrounding Kalikrishna Tagore Street and Kalakar Street which are situated off Burrabazar. The flyover would have helped Howrah-bound vehicles from north Kolkata to reach Howrah Bridge avoiding traffic congestion. The length of the bridge is 2.2 km which connects Vivekananda Road – Chittaranjan Avenue crossing Strand Bank Road.

It may be recalled that shortly after the construction began in 2009, locals stopped work alleging that the design was faulty. They said the boundary wall of the flyover had been constructed in such a way that many house-owners were not able to open their windows.

But the then Urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharya refused to pay any heed to their complaints and went ahead with the project that finally led to a major disaster.