India: flyover collapse raises questions on the human toll of corruption

Published 09:54 April 1, 2016

Updated 09:54 April 1, 2016

The company spokesman talks about “a god’s act,” other have a more mundane answer for the forces at play

A long 2 km stretch of a flyover highway – 90 meters above the ground – collapsed on Thursday in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, killing 23 people. But, there are many trapped under the rubble of the overpass and the toll is likely to rise.

the human cost

Rescuers worked through the night in one of the city’s busiest neighborhoods to find people that may have been trapped. Police and the army had been joining forces to help with the emergency. It is a race against time, as every hour decreases the chances of survival of those trapped.

Indeed, 90 people have so far been rescued, of whom many seriously injured, but there is no estimate of how many are missing.

Many of the workers at the construction were sleeping on site. Many buildings were affected by the collapse. Cars were crushed. Cranes have been trying to remove crashed cars and rabble, to de-congest the area. The rescue operation has been extremely difficult, with traffic hindering access to the site and the roads being narrow. And rescuers have been finding hard to clear crowds from the area.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indian army personnel work to recover victims after a bridge under construction collapsed in Calcutta, India, 31 March 2016. EPA/PIYAL ADHIKARY

the context of the events

The construction has been going on since 2007, missing deadline after deadline of delivery, for a project meant to be delivered within two years. The construction company has been asking for continuous renewals of a contract and, of course, more money. Come 2016, about 70% of the project had been completed.

The cause of the accident is not known, but the company’s spokesman spoke of a “god’s act.”

Fingers are already being pointed. Mamta Banerjee, a state chief minister, accused his communist predecessors in the West Bengal regional government of not adhering to building regulations. Apparently, the construction company (IVRCL) had not shared the details of the project’s plan with the current government, and so ignorance and lack of monitoring burdens the previous government. However, last year Mr. Banerjee had committed to the overpass being completed by February 2016, according to the Telegraph. And there is also the question of how a blacklisted company, according to the BBC, had been allowed to remain on the project.

EPA/PIYAL ADHIKARY

Mamta is seeking reelection and the accident could not have come at a worse time. State elections are looming in what is considered a test to Narendra Modi’s two-year administration.

From September 2009 to Thursday evening, there had been at least seven major structure collapse incidents killing hundreds of people across Indian, including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Chhattisgarh.  Systemic corruption, it has been suggested, may be the root cause.

(AFP, BBC, The Guardian, Reuters, The Telegraph, The New York Times)

India: flyover collapse raises questions on the human toll of corruption