 "Exposing the underbelly of Bengal politics")
It was a spine-chilling moment for Kolkata as people saw the CCTV footage of the accident flash on television screens over and over again. People, cars and buses were going about their usual business in one of Kolkata's most congested areas when the giant flyover collapsed, burying everything under it.
The routine after the accident was familiar: the Army led the rescue operation, the paramilitary forces helped with mob management - and the political parties fought bitterly.
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Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was campaigning in West Medinipur, rushed to the spot and immediately absolved her government. She said that the contract for the flyover was awarded by the earlier Left Front government to Hyderabad-based IVRCL in 2009. "We had repeatedly asked the contractor to submit the design but he didn't," she said.
Ashok Bhattacharya, the urban development minister in the Left Front government, retorted that it was the Trinamool Congress that was in power in the last five years, and not the Left Front. He has claimed that during the Left Front's time, only piling work had been completed. In other words, much of the faulty construction happened when the Trinamool Congress was in power.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, the local MP, surfaced a day later and added to the confusion by saying there was a design flaw and he had informed the government, but 50 per cent of the work had already been completed by then. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress just stuck to how it all pointed to the bigger issue of corruption within the ruling Trinamool Congress. The slugfest continues with even Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking potshots at Banerjee.
The blame game
As George Orwell had said, "Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." But from the story that unfolded over the past week, it looks like the past and present governments must take a fair share of the blame - may be one more than the other.
The Left Front government had good reason to build the flyover. The 2.2-km elevated road was meant to cut across a highly congested residential neighbourhood near the Burra Bazar area and could have saved commuters around 45 minutes during rush hour. That it was a congested area also meant that the traffic on that stretch could be stopped only for six hours at night for construction. It comes as no surprise that the flyover missed some nine deadlines, the first being August 2011.
The bigger question, however, is the design. There were stretches along the flyover where its arms were set into people's terraces or cantilever verandahs as is common in old Kolkata. Surely, in the raging debate over intolerance that has engulfed India, the residents of these buildings are the true flag bearers of tolerance.
"Why is the government not taking to task the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, which was the implementing agency? According to the contract, KMDA was supposed to oversee the work at every step," points out CPI (M) leader Mohammed Salim. KMDA comes under the ministry of municipal affairs and urban development of the West Bengal government.
There could be some truth in it: KMDA has got off lightly, while 10 IVRCL officials have been arrested so far in this case. The company had initially called it an "act of god" but accepted a day later that it was an accident.
The Vivekananda Road flyover is the second flyover mishap in the Trinamool Congress regime. In 2013, a flank of the Ultadanga flyover had collapsed. The saving grace was that it happened at 4:30 in the morning, so the damage was restricted: the flyover went down with a truck which fell in a water body. There too the implementing agency was KMDA.
Apart from negligence, the accident has turned the spotlight on the big challenges that the current regime faces: corruption and intimidation. In the past five years, West Bengal has come to terms with what is called the 'syndicate raj'. It is an extortion racket run by unemployed youth primarily affiliated allegedly to the ruling party who use violence, or the threat of violence, to force inferior materials on developers and individuals at a premium. To put it in plain words, it's not possible to build anything in the state anymore without roping in a syndicate. Be it a flyover or house, they have their fingers in every pie.
The Opposition was quick to charge that IVRCL had sub-contracted large chunks of the work to Trinamool Congress cadre. The company admitted that it had appointed sub-contractors but insisted that there was no compromise on quality.
Sub-contracts had been given to civil construction agencies owned by local Trinamool Congress leader Sanjay Bakshi's nephew, Rajat Bakshi. Sanjay Bakshi's wife, Smita Bakshi, is a sitting MLA of the party and is contesting the elections this year from the Jorasanko assembly constituency. The sub-contractors were apparently supplying a mix of skilled and unskilled labourers for work at the flyover.
Boom town
In industry-starved Bengal, syndicate raj is the only thriving occupation. The latest sting operation by Times Now shows the Biddhannagar mayor, Sabyasachi Dutta, claiming it takes Rs 50-60 lakh to fight an election, most of which is paid by syndicates. With the syndicate having spread its web throughout the state, the question on everyone's mind now is how safe are the buildings or infrastructure in the city or in the state? If that be the case, what is likely to be the political implication?
"This is a major issue. Everyone can relate to it. The repercussions of the flyover accident will be felt throughout Bengal because people have been facing it for the past five years," says Salim, adding that the Trinamool Congress will lose the state election.
No doubt the Trinamool Congress has been going through a rough patch. Mid-March, Narada News portal released video footage that showed MLAs, MPs and ministers from the ruling party allegedly accepting cash for extending favours to a fictitious company. Since then skeletons have been tumbling out one after another.
Opinion polls suggest that the Trinamool Congress will retain power but will lose some seats. An ABP Ananda-Nielsen opinion poll has given the Trinamool Congress 178 seats in the 294-member Assembly as opposed to the 190 that it had bagged in 2011. The Left-Congress combine is expected to bag 110 seats, while the BJP is likely to remain a marginal player with one seat.
A poll by C-Voter and India TV has put the tally of the Trinamool Congress at 156 seats. Political analyst Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhuri corroborates that the party is likely to get seats in this range because the index of opposition unity is much higher this time, which is likely to go against the ruling party even as it retains power. That means a second chance for Banerjee to stem the rot within the party.
Many a time in the past five years, Banerjee has asked her party members to choose between syndicates and allegiance to the Trinamool Congress. It's time for her to walk the talk.