Error in design, lack of quality check caused Kolkata flyover collapse: IIT report indicates

Few weeks after the flyover accident, the West Bengal government instructed two ex-faculties of IIT Kharagpur- Anandarpan Gupta and Swapan Majumder- to hold an investigation into the matter.

The special report was submitted before the government on Wednesday, where it was stated that lack of quality checking, approval of faulty design and usage of disparate raw materials caused the fatal accident, sources said.

According to the IIT probe report, the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), which approved the design and was overseeing the project, could not deny its responsibility.

Meanwhile, future of the remaining unfinished parts of Vivekananda flyover has not been decided so far, a government official said.

"We just received IIT specialists' report. Let the investigation reports from the RITES (Rail India Technical and Economic Service) and National Test House (NTH), Hyderabad come to us, then the future of unfinished Vivekananda flyover would be decided," the official told IBNS.

Earlier on March 31, a 100-meter portion of under construction Vivekanda flyover collapsed on a busy road in north Kolkata's Girish Park area, killing at least 26 people and leaving several others injured.

After commencing probe into the matter, police arrested several senior officials and engineers of Hyderabad-based construction company IVRCL, which was building the flyover, and KMDA as well. They all are in judicial custody.

The Kolkata Police also submitted a charge sheet against the arrested persons before a city court, slapping unintentional murder charges.

After getting all the probe reports from several agencies, police could file supplementary charge sheet in the case, officials said.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)