IVRCL Ltd described the collapse of one of the spans under construction Vivekanada Road flyover in Kolkata as “unfortunate, shocking and was like ‘Act of God.”
AGK Murthy, Director (Operations), IVRCL, the Hyderabad-based construction company, said, “We are shocked. Never in the company history an incident of such a magnitude happened. It is like God’s Act. It is beyond our thinking. Just don’t know what to say.”
“We are unable to comprehend at this stage what could have lead to the collapse of the span. Our sincere condolences to the victims of the accident. We will go all out and help the authorities in restoring normalcy,” Murthy told Business Line.
“As of now we are not having any direct information on the accident. The whole place has been cordoned off and rescue works are underway. Our people are not at the site now. Some are undergoing treatment. Right now, the focus is on restoration. We have to assess what has gone wrong. All standard operations issues, designs and processes were followed,” he said.
“There has been no issue so far. This is the 60{+t}{+h} span (of 40 metre), which we were working on as a part of 113 spans to be executed for the flyover. About 78 per cent work has been completed, majority of the pillars have been cast. It is a big challenge to execute the project without securing clearances. Even now all the works for the flyover have not secured clearances to execute works,” he said.
“The Bada Bazaar area is one of the most congested and crowded places where the bridge was under construction. We will wait for the State Government directions for our next step,” he said.
Asked about the E Sudhir Reddy, IVRCL CMD, Murthy said, “He was travelling and asked us to take all necessary steps to ensure that restoration works go smoothly. The CFO K Balaram Reddy is not well and could not join us.”
The Rs 166-crore project was awarded in 2009. The 2-km long flyover, mandated to be completed in 18 months, missed several deadlines. The problem was with securing clearances which held up project execution, he said.