Heads should roll over Kolkata flyover tragedy
While the loss of life and property in the aftermath of the Kolkata flyover collapse is saddening, what it shocking is that the incident follows a predictable and avoidable pattern. The blame-game began quickly after the collapse: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress Government shifted the onus on its predecessor, the left Front, which had sanctioned the project during its last days in power. The left, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in turn sought to bring in the British via the Howrah Bridge, asking if the Government would haul in the former colonisers if that iconic structure fell today! The absurdity of this narrative notwithstanding, two aspects deserve attention: First, Banerjee cannot escape responsibility. She has been in power for five years now, and while no one is denying that she inherited a bad situation, one cannot ignore that she made it worse in just about every sector of governance. Second, there is still enough blame to be placed at the doorsteps of not just both the State parties but also Union Governments, which have partially funded the project. The Hyderabad-based company building the flyover, IVRCl, was kept on the project even though it had been red-flagged by several State Governments and even Indian Railways. The Centre and the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority, reportedly, had reservations about the company but still went ahead with it, mostly because the officials weren't sure if they could find a builder to replace IVRCl, especially when much of the work had been done. The question here is: Why was IVRCl given the project in the first placeIJ Simple answer: It was the lowest bidder. This is a systemic problem with the Government being penny wise, pound foolish. Thankfully, at the Centre, the Modi Government is now changing this, so as to ensure better quality and timely completion. In Kolkata, the flyover situation also seems to have been made worse by Banerjee's rush to complete the project. IVRCl won the contract in 2009 and was expected to finish the work in 2010, but repeatedly missed its deadlines in part because it was only given permission to work for five hours a day. In November 2015, Banerjee announced that the project would be completed by February this year. This was an impossible deadline given that at least 25 per cent of the work was still to be done. The deadline was shifted again to August this year even as IVRCl remained under pressure. This is possibly why its engineers did not pay attention to the weakening of the scaffolding (one of the factors that experts believe caused the collapse), even after several bolts fell out of the bridge.
Notably, this is the second bridge in the State to collapse in three years; in March 2013, a portion of the Ultadanga flyover collapsed into a canal. Such incidents are tragically common across the country. Bridges and buildings, roads and canals, collapse all the time, and almost always the core problems are the same Greed and corruption, furthered by a vile nexus between builders, promoters, bureaucrats and politicians. There is a one-word solution to all of this: Accountability. Those who toy with the lives of innocents must be made to pay, and dearly so. Heads must roll.