A day after the tragic pillar span collapse on cars and buses in Varanasi claiming lives of 18 people, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath admitted 'fault' on the part of officials of Bridge Corporation, which was entrusted with the construction of the flyover.
The government lodged FIRs against guilty officials and suspended the incharge of the project in Varanasi and replaced them on Wednesday.
After suspending chief project manager HC Tiwari, project manager KSudan, assistant engineer Rajesh Singh and junior engineer lal Chand on Tuesday night, the government on Wednesdayappointed AK Srivastava as the chief project manager and Sanjiv Gupta as the project manager.
“The fresh postings were made to ensure that the suspension of officers did not affect the construction work. The government's priority is to complete the project on time," Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said.
Besides acting in a jiffy, the government also lodged FIRs against UP State Bridge Corporation officers, engineers and contractors for negligence. Charging them with Sections 304 (culpable homicide), 308 (attempt of culpable homicide) and 427 (damage to property) of the IPC. Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, was also invoked against the accused. The FIRs were lodged on the complaint of Roadways police outpost incharge Dhananand Tripathi.
The functioning of Bridge Corporation has always remained under cloud. Appointments have been under political influence and some departments are overstaffed. Several bridges constructed by it developed cracks bringing a bad name to the Corporation.
In 2010, the 1,087- metre Chillgahat bridge connecting Fatehpur with Bundelkhand developed cracks within 13 days of its inauguration. Six years later, in 2016, a cavity developed on lohia bridge over Gomti in lucknow. Another flyover near Polytechnic crossing in lucknow also developed cracks and was closed to traffic for a year.
Insiders said that the fear of an accident was all the time lurking and on February 19, the police had filed an FIR against the project manager and construction company charging them with negligence in the construction of the flyover.
Realising Bridge Corporation officials were at fault, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath rushed to Varanasi after the accident and admitted that prima facie it seemed that the tragedy was due to departmental fault and promised not to spare the guilty. "An enquiry has been ordered to look into the technical aspect of the accident. A committee has been asked to submit its report within 48 hours," Yogi said.
Apart from a high-level departmental probe, a magisterial inquiry has also begun. Additional DM Manoj Kumar Rai will submit his report in three days.
The flyover from Chowkaghat area was constructed during the Mayawati's regime. During Akhilesh' tenure yet another flyover was sanctioned parallel to the old one extending to lahartara. Since the BJP government came to power, pressure was being mounted on UP State Bridge Corporation for the early completion of the work. Just a day before, Commissioner of Varanasi Division Deepak Agrawal expressed concern over the slow pace of work and instructed engineers that the flyover be completed by October this year.
However, the CM denied any pressure to finish the work and said that the department itself set a timeframe to complete the project.
Earlier, around Tuesday midnight, the CM airdashed to Varanasi and visited the site. He then went to meet the injured at Trauma Centre of BHU, Shiv Prasad Gupta government hospital in Kabirchaura and Deen Dayal government hospital in Orderly Bazar and directed officers to provide best treatment to the injured.