West Bengal govt decides to dismantle Kolkata's Majerhat bridge, build new modern ROB within next year

After receiving a preliminary inquiry report from the fact finding committee, CM made the announcement on Friday.

During a press conference here at state's main administrative building at Nabanna, Mamata Banerjee said, "A fact finding committee, led by Chief Secretary, on Friday put forward its preliminary inquiry report into the reason behind the Majerhat bridge collapse and the committee has suggested to dismantle the remaining portion of 54-year-old bridge and to build a new one."

"I have directed state authorities to dismantle the bridge as soon as possible and to build a new modern rail over bridge at the location on an urgent basis within a year," Banerjee told the media.

Meanwhile, she also accused the state Public Works Department (PWD) of shoddy maintenance of the old bridge.

"The initial probe report, which has been submitted just seven days after the investigation was ordered, indicates that state PWD did not maintain the bridge properly and they can't deny their negligence," Chief Minister said.

"The report also said that a heavy vibration, which was generated by a metro project nearby, might have weakened the Majerhat bridge's structure," Mamata Banerjee added.

Bengal Chief Minister said that a detailed inquiry report into the exact technical reason behind the disaster will be submitted in next month.

"Kolkata Police are also investigating the matter to find if anyone's negligence was responsible for the bridge collapse and we won't spare anyone responsible for the disaster," CM Mamata Banerjee told reporters.

Earlier on Sep 4 evening, a nearly 40-metre block of southwest Kolkata's Majherhat rail over bridge collapsed, leaving three persons dead and at least 25 others injured.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)