Kolkata: Union Minister Muktar Abbas Naqvi today accused the TMC-led state government of “criminal negligence” in relief work and alleged that it was engaged in a “competition on corruption” with the previous Left Front dispensation resulting in the flyover collapse.
“The Chief Minister and the ruling Trinamool Congress have indulged in petty politics of accusing the previous Left Front government. It is not the time to accuse the previous government.
“If the previous Left Front government had indulged in corruption, then why didn’t the TMC government stop it after coming to power? It seems a competition on corruption was on between the two. And the flyover collapse is a result of it,” Naqvi told reporters here.
“We feel that the state government was casual in its approach in conducting the relief work. Had they been more pro-active, the relief work could have started much earlier.
It is a clear case of criminal negligence on the part of the state government,” the Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs said.
The death toll today rose to 24 in the flyover collapse as three more bodies were recovered from underneath the piles of debris of concrete and iron girdles of the broken portion of the under-construction bridge in central part of the city.
A portion of about 60-metre of the under-construction Vivekananda flyover collapsed yesterday.
Naqvi reiterated the demand for a CBI probe into the incident.
“We feel that a CBI inquiry should be initiated into the incident… All the culprits, however big they may be, should be arrested. The state should request for a CBI inquiry. This incident is a clear case of rampant corruption regarding the construction of flyover,” Naqvi said.
PTI
