Kolkata bridge disaster: Calcutta HC grants permission to file PIL, police lodge suo motu FIR
Kolkata, Sep 5 (IBNS): A day after a portion of Majherhat railway over bridge (ROB) collapsed, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted permission to an advocate to lodge a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) into the disaster while the city police has registered a suo motu FIR against the bridge's maintenance agencies, reports said.
A city lawyer, Ravisankar Chatterjee, sought permission before the bench of Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya to file a PIL demanding probe into the reason behind the bridge tragedy.
Chief Justice's bench granted permission to the lawyer to file the PIL in a proper format.
The petitioner said that the PIL would be filed before the CJ's division bench by Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Kolkata Police on Wednesday lodged a suo motu FIR at Alipore Police Station under several non-bailable sections against 'unknown persons' from the agencies, which were involved in the maintenance of the collapsed bridge.
"A case on suo muto basis has been lodged by Kolkata Police at Alipore Police Station against responsible persons under IPC sections 304 (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (Attempt to commit culpable homicide), 427 (Mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention)," city police's Deputy Commissioner (south division), Meeraj Khalid, told IBNS.
Earlier on Tuesday evening, a nearly 20-metre block of more than 40 years old Majherhat bridge, which reportedly received a 'fit certificate' from the state Public Works Department (PWD) six months ago, collapsed on a canal beside railway tracks, leaving at least one person killed and 25 others injured.
The deceased has been identified as Soumen Bag (27), who was a resident of Behala Silpara area.
The injured persons are undergoing treatment at SSKM, Vidyasagar and CMRI hospitals while sources in SSKM hospital said that health conditions of two injured are very critical.
Local police, state fire and emergency services officials, Disaster Management Group (DMG) personnel and rescue teams from ational Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and Indian Army are continuing search operation at the scene.
"There are reports that two Murshidabad residents- Gautam Mondal and Uday Dey, who were assigned as labourers at Joka-BBD Bag Metro project which is undergoing beside the crash site, were reportedly inside a restroom underneath the bridge when it collapsed," a senior city police official told IBNS.
"Our search and rescue operation is currently underway to find if the duo or any other else is trapped under the wreckage," the official added.
A team from the Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) on Wednesday morning inspected the scene to find the reason behind the disaster.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is currently in Darjeeling, is scheduled to visit the crash site at Majherhat on Wednesday evening.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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