An advocate of Andhra Pradesh High Court has petitioned National Human Rights Committs (NHRC) praying it direct Hyderabad-based construction company IVRCL and West Government to declare Rs 50 lakh as ex-gratia to those who killed in the Vivekananda flyover collapse in Kolkata recently.
The advocate P Sai Krishna Azad told UNI in the city today that he has faxed his petitions to the NHRC and also to the Human Rights Commission in West Bengal , requesting them to appoint a committee to probe the incident, besides registering a criminal case against culprits who are responsible for the untoward incident. The petition was filed under section-12 of protection of Human Rights Commission Act 1993, he reasoned. Mr Azad is also urging the Commission to ensure that IVRCL is bracketed under blacklist category.
It may be recalled that the flyover had collapsed in Kolkata two-days ago, in which, at least 25 people were killed and 75 others injured, apart from pulling out 90 people from the rubble. However, more than 100 people are still unaccounted, the petitioner reasoned.
He said that a 100-metre section of the 2.2-km flyover other than the failure to adhere to safety norms and the deviations from standard operating procedures by the builder was the root-cause of the problem when the bridge collapsed, trapping many pedestrians and vehicles underneath. The accident took at place at the busy Rabindra Sarani – K K Tagore street crossing.
The work was contracted to IVRCL, a construction firm based in Hyderabad which had been banned from doing business in Uttar Pradesh and several other states.
The project which began in 2008, was scheduled to be completed in 2010, but overshot the deadline multiple times. On March 30, 2016, one day before the collapse, concrete had been laid on the bridge, according to locals.Hours before the collapse, construction workers had heard the cracking noise of nuts in the cantilever At 1232 hrs.
He said that the same company had caused for the death of two workers in Hyderabad in 2009. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the labour department had launched a probe against the company for causing the death of two workers in the city in 2009. IVRCL had not taken any precautions while digging the 20 feet deep trench for laying the pipelines.
The two workers had died when a section of the trench collapsed on them, the Advocate mentioned in his petition.