The death toll in the warehouse crash in Kolkata’s Garden Reach climbed to nine on Thursday morning and four among the injured were in critical condition in hospital, Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said in the Assembly.
“Nine people have died. Bodies of five of them have been handed over to the family. The post-mortem of four others is under process. Fifteen among the injured are stable now while four others remain critical. The government will provide Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of the dead and compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to those injured,” he announced.
The chief minister also announced a 12-member committee to audit ongoing construction projects in Kolkata and adjoining areas.
Additional chief secretary Rajesh Pandey will head the committee with members from public sector engineering enterprise RITES, the Indian Railway Construction International Limited (IRCON) and IIT-Kharagpur, Kolkata police commissioner Ajay Nand and Kolkata municipal commissioner Smita Pandey.
“For four weeks no construction work will be allowed in Kolkata, Rajarhat-Newtown, Maheshtala, Budge Budge, Pujali, Sonarpur, Baruipur, Bishnupur-rural area. All building plans sanctioned will be audited by this committee,” Adhikari said.
“Till the audit is completed we will not allow any construction to continue. Then we will conduct a probe and attach properties [of those involved]. Just wait. We will make no compromise with people's lives.”
On Wednesday noon, the roof of an under-construction warehouse on a plot owned by the Calcutta Port and leased to a private enterprise caved-in, leaving the workers buried underneath.
Waving a bunch of documents, Adhikari blamed the previous Trinamool Congress government and Kolkata former mayor and Kolkata Port MLA Firhad Hakim for the disaster.
“The building plan was sanctioned on January 17 this year. We have got all the documents. This [incident] is a consequence of your sins. With bribes you have turned the city of joy into the city of death. Despite multiple incidents you did not learn any lessons, you did not take corrective measures,” Adhikari said.
“A faulty plan with structural defects, faulty designs was cleared by the former mayor. How many similar plans have been sanctioned we do not know.”
“These documents are signed by the former mayor Firhad Hakim.” Adhikari said addressing the Trinamool chief whip Akhruzzaman. “No one will be spared. The engineers who did not discharge their duties, we have got their names,” the chief minister said.
Adhikari said five people have been arrested so far and more arrests will follow.
“We do not know what happened in the KMC. Once Kali (Kalicharan Banerjee, OSD to former mayor Hakim] is arrested everything will become clear,” Adhikari said.
The chief minister said the KMC was ill-equipped to deal with a tragedy like the one at Garden Reach.
“Around 215 army personnel especially the Bihar Regiment came with modern equipment to cut the iron beams. Army, NDRF, civil defence have been working overnight looking for survivors,” the chief minister said.