The death of two persons in an accident, after a portion of the overbridge fell down on the slum dwellers late on Monday night, has led to the blame game between Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Public Works Department (PWD).
Bhopal Mayor Alok Sharma claimed that the bridge has never been handed over to the BMC and thus the responsibility of maintenance of the bridge was on the PWD. The PWD has accepted that it was its responsibility, but stated the BMC can not shy away from the responsibility.
Two persons including a woman died and around eight persons were injured after part of overbridge near Bhopal
railway station collapsed late in the night on Monday. Compensation worth `1 lakh has been declared for the family of the deceased.
Soon after the incident BMC and police teams reached the spot and started the rescue operation. During the rescue around a dozen persons were saved and were rushed to a nearby hospital. Two of the injured were declared dead. After the preliminary investigation the bodies were sent for the post mortem.
The bridge is around 40 year old but the condition of the bridge deteriorated and which resulted in the collapse of a part leading to death of two persons.
The deceased were identified as Hanuman and Parvati of Chhindwara. The couple used to live near Habibiya school but at the time of World Hindi Conference they were shifted near the dilapidated part of the over-bridge.
Agencies responsible for maintaining infrastructure have started blaming each other for the collapse. City Mayor Alok Sharma has held the PWD responsible for the incident.
While talking to The Pioneer PWD Minister Sartaj Singh said that he has never declined the responsibility of the overbridge. “Of course, it belongs to the PWD and the responsibility of the maintenance is also with the PWD,” he said adding that there was negligence on the part of the BMC too, as the electricity polls on the cantilever were not installed properly and the PWD had written to the BMC several times regarding this.
Sartaj Singh on the occasion declared a reward of `1 lakh for the family of the deceased.
The incident occurred after the electric pole fell and the dilapidated part was not able to bear the weight of the electric pole collapsed in which the shanties built adjacent to the walls of the over bridge wall caved in injuring around a dozen people.C