BRIDGE TO NOWHERE
April 26: The Hooghly jetty collapse today was a tragedy waiting to happen because of poor maintenance resulting from responsibility changing hands multiple times in the past two years, turning it into a no-man's jetty.
Three persons died and several more are missing since the collapse of the jetty at Telenipara Ghat, where a similar incident in 2015 had led to two deaths.
Since September 2016, jetty operations have been run by the same private agency whose contract had been annulled after the 2015 collapse. On both occasions, it was the Hooghly Zilla Parishad that engaged this agency registered in the name of Mihir Bhattacharya.
The last round of maintenance was apparently done in 2016 by Bhadreswar Municipality, to which the zilla parishad had handed over jetty operations after cancelling Bhattacharya's contract in 2015.
There is no clarity yet on what prompted the zilla parishad to bring the agency back on board despite the old blemish.
On April 1, the state transport department made its entry by asking the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC) to start renovating the structure as part of a decision to take over all jetties across Bengal. Surveys for a pontoon-type jetty started with an initial allocation of Rs 50,000 barely three days ago, but accountability for operations remained a grey area.
"Basically, there was no authority in place to ensure that jetty operations were safe and smooth on a daily basis," a senior government official said. "One of the most important functions of jetty management is to ensure that there is no crowding on the structure during high tide. We do that across the jetties in Calcutta. But for almost a fortnight now, there was apparently nobody to raise the alarm at Telenipara."
Sujit Singh, whose 14-year-old brother Krishna is missing since the jetty collapsed a little after 11am today, said it was shocking to hear that an agency held responsible for a previous incident got back the contract a year later. "How could this contractor have got back the lease with the safety record he has?" he demanded to know.
Boatman Ashok Chowdhury, who saw the jetty crumble under the weight of people waiting for ferries, alleged that the structure had not been maintained for years. "Commuters would risk their lives daily by getting onto the jetty. This had become a way of life for them," he said.
Agriculture marketing minister Tapan Dasgupta, who is also the president of the Hooghly district Trinamul Congress, said: "We will look into allegations about the contract."
The state government had decided in June 2016 to bring ferry services under the transport department to ensure passenger safety. This was after 19 people drowned during a boat capsize at Katwa in Burdwan.
The West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation subsequently conducted a survey that flagged the condition of 68 jetties as poor. The report recommended rebuilding nearly 29 jetties.
"The jetty in Bhadreswar is one of the rickety ones and it would take a long time to rebuild it," the transport department official said. "The project cost is expected to cross Rs 1.5 crore," an official said.
