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A lot of fingers were pointed and questions were raised after the collapse of an under-construction flyover in Varanasi claimed 18 lives. However, information accessed by The Quint places the Yogi Adityanath’s government under the scanner.
The construction of the flyover was scheduled to be completed by December 2018, however, sources revealed to The Quint that the government was mounting pressure to complete the project by June this year.
Over the last three years, around 50 government officials and ministers surveyed the construction site. These surveys – that were even carried out by Chief Minister Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Maurya – laid stress on checking the quality of the ongoing construction.
Upon enquiry, The Quint discovered that:-
Kumkum Singh, who lost her son and her husband, can’t control her tears while talking about the incident. On 15 May, she was on her way to the railway station to drop her husband and son. Cars had to pass under the flyover to reach the station. Kumkum says that like most days, that day too saw a major traffic jam under the flyover.
As cars and bikes were slowly moving forward, a chunk of concrete from the bridge fell on Singh’s car.
A probe into the possible cause of the collapse has been ordered. Four people, including the Project Manager of Sethu Corporation, have been suspended.
(This story was originally posted on Quint Hindi)
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