By IANS,
Kolkata : A large section of a two-year-old flyover built during the erstwhile Left Front regime collapsed here early Sunday, critically injuring three people, police said. The accident has sparked a war-of-words between the Left and the ruling Trinamool Congress.
The 200-metre-long section of the bridge came crashing down into a canal below entrapping the lorry that was crossing the flyover at the time of the incident. The injury figure was low as the incident occurred at 4:30 a.m.
Divers and disaster management personnel were pressed into service and the three people travelling in the lorry were rescued and hospitalised with serious injuries, police said.
The flyover, inaugurated in January 2011 by then Left Front Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, provides a fast transit to the airport by connecting VIP road with the Eastern Metropolitan bypass, and carries a large volume of traffic throughout the day.
Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, who rushed to the scene, said the reasons for the collapse would be probed and promised stern action if any engineer was found at fault.
However, he blamed the erstwhile Left Front administration, saying the flyover was completed hurriedly to enable Bhattacharjee to inaugurate it ahead of the 2011 state assembly elections.
However, Hakim’s predecessor during the Left Front regime, Ashok Bhattacharya rejected the allegation. “There was no hurry in the construction. So many flyovers were constructed during our rule. Let there be a proper probe,” he said.
Queried about the incident on the sidelines of a programme, Governor M.K. Narayanan described the incident as “unfortunate”.