West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury today filed a PIL in Calcutta High Court seeking setting up of disaster management units in all districts of the state to avoid delay in responding to road accidents like the one in Murshidabad recently that claimed 43 lives.
Inordinate delay in responding to the accident had led to so many deaths, Chowdhury claimed and prayed that the state government be ordered to set up disaster management units in all the districts, his lawyer Pratik Kumar Chatterjee said.
Alleging that provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, had not been followed by state and district administrations Chatterjee said, "There was a two-hour delay in the arrival of a crane after the accident."
"Divers arrived after six hours and the disaster management team reached the spot 11 hours after the accident took place," he said.
At least 43 people died in the accident on January 29, one of the worst road accidents in West Bengal in recent years. The bus broke through the girders of a bridge and fell into a canal at Daulatabad in Murshidabad district.
Chowdhury, a Congress Lok Sabha MP from Baharampur constituency, where the accident took place, prayed to the court that all aspects of lease of the North Bengal State Transport Corporation bus to Baharampur Municipality and its sub-lease to a private party be checked.
He also prayed for necessary steps in case of violation of agreement by any party.
The Congress leader also prayed for an investigation by a sitting judge into the alleged violation of provisions of the Disaster Management Act and for increasing compensation to the kin of dead to Rs 20 lakh from the Rs 5 lakh that the state government has already paid.
The PIL is likely to come up for hearing on Friday next, Chatterjee said.
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