Lucknow: Four officials of the UP State Bridge Corporation have been suspended after 18 people died when a portion of an under-construction flyover collapsed in Varanasi.
The incident took place near Lehartara Cancer Hospital where a part of an under-construction bridge collapsed, trapping many people who were passing underneath it. A few cars and a bus ferrying passengers were also trapped under the debris.
After reaching the site, UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya on Tuesday suspended the four officials and announced the formation of Setu Suraksha Cell to check such incidents in future.
“Project manager (PM) HC Tiwari, APM KR Sudan, assistant engineer Rajesh Singh and junior engineer Lal Chand were suspended with immediate effect. A three-member technical committee has been constituted to carry out a probe and submit report within a fortnight," Maurya said.
The Deputy CM added that four officers have been appointed immediately in place of the suspended ones so that the work doen’t suffer.
A senior engineer of the Uttar Pradesh State Bridge Corporation has been given the responsibility to carry out the probe and to ascertain the causes that led to the incident. The senior engineer has been asked to complete the probe by Wednesday and submit a report to the government.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also reached the spot late on Wednesday night to take review of the rescue and relief work and announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each for the nearest kin of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh for the critically injured.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is an MP from Varanasi, had also offered his condolences to the families of the victims in a tweet and said that he was “extremely saddened". He also said that he had spoken to CM Yogi Adityanath. “The UP government is monitoring the situation very closely and is working on the ground to assist the affected," he wrote.
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