 "Kolkata flyover collapse: IVRCL has faced allegations of negligence in the past too")
The collapse of an under-construction flyover in Kolkata on Thursday, which left over 20 dead and several others trapped and injured, has put the spotlight on infrastructure firm, IVRCL.
The company called the accident an ‘act of god’ and said that it was co-operating with the investigation agencies in their probe.
“45% of the work was left. One girder missed and the second one fell. It is nothing but God's act. This has never happened before; we are also in shock,” K P Rao of IVRCL added.
The 2.2-km Vivekananda Road flyover was being funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Its construction had got stuck midway after several hurdles.
"All necessary process and quality steps have been taken as per standard operating procedure and after obtaining all clearances. The collapsed section is the 60th," the company said, adding that in the flyover project, 59 sections with a total length of about 0.9 km had been completed successfully so far.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had reportedly asked for the construction to be completed quickly on the back of the upcoming elections in the state, one of the reasons seen by experts for the collapse to have taken place.
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Political blame-game started when it was reported that IVRCL had been blacklisted by the government. “The project began in 2008 under the CPM rule. Since, the mishap has taken in our time, we will do what it takes,” Banerjee said, adding that the government will not spare the builders IVRCL as it is an act of negligence. Reacting to this, the Left questioned the TMC government as to why it had not changed the builders when the firm had been blacklisted two-three years ago, The Times of India reported.
However, this is not the first time that the company’s projects have faced mishaps. The flyover collapse is the fourth such incident where the company has come under fire for alleged negligent practices.
Sewerage pipeline work in Hyderabad
The company had, in 2009, come under fire for alleged negligent working conditions, which had lead to the death of two workers at one of its sites in Hyderabad. The company was facing investigation by the city’s civic body, following the death of the workers, a report in DNA states.
The firm had taken up work to construct sewerage pipeline, which included laying 35 pipelines. However, a 20-feet trench in Uppal area of the city had caved in, causing two workers to die.
The state’s labour department had then recommended that the civic body must blacklist the firm.
Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam
Subsequently, in February 2011, the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam blacklisted IVRCL for being lax in maintaining quality of materials used in drinking water sewage projects in Allahabad and Kanpur.
Navneet Sehgal, chairman of the UP Jal Nigam had said that the quality of work done by the two companies was not found to be appropriate. "The two stand blacklisted," he told The Times of India.
On Railways’ scanner
The infrastructure firm was under the scanner of the Indian Railways for non-performance, The Indian Express reported.
“Because of non-performance, we had terminated a few of their contracts,” said S C Agnihotri, Chief Managing Director, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) to the newspaper. The non-performance by the company included aspects like long delays, leading to notices being served, penalties etc.
Engineering and railway construction giant IRCON had also terminated its tunnelling contract which it had awarded the company. “They got the contract based on the strength and reputation of the foreign firm they had tied up with but when the work was being executed, we saw that only IVRCL was carrying it out. We were very disappointed with the work and terminated the contract,” a senior IRCON official told the publication.