It's not the PWD's job to repair the gap in the footpath of Chandmari bridge in Howrah through which a man fell on Wednesday, minister Aroop Biswas said on Friday.

"It is the job of the railways," Biswas, who heads the department, said.

Railway officials said what they have been saying since the accident: the stretch of the footpath with the gap is not their responsibility. The railways looks after the part exactly over the tracks, an official said.

The 70-year-old man, severely injured after falling 25ft through the gap, is battling for life in Howrah District Hospital. Police are yet to establish his identity.

Doctors at the hospital said he had fractured a rib and suffered severe head injuries. He slipped into a coma on Friday and has been put on ventilator, a doctor said.

None of the government agencies is willing to take responsibility for the footpath along the road on Chandmari bridge, built in 1933, near Howrah Maidan.

People of the area claim the gap created by a missing slab has been there for the past couple of months.

The gap was fenced with guard rails and plastic barricades after Wednesday evening's accident. But that means pedestrians have to step on the road, braving heavy traffic and risking their lives.

"The bridge belongs to the railways. We have repaired the road in the past on their request but never touched the footpath on either side," Biswas said. "If the rail authorities request us to repair the footpath, we will do it. But we can't do it on our own without their permission."

Biswas's statement, however, contradicts what urban development minister Firhad Hakim had said on Thursday.

"It is the PWD's responsibility. Ask them," Hakim had said.

A PWD official said the agency had nothing to do with the bridge. "We have checked the records after the railways claimed the road was maintained by us. We found that we were never responsible for the maintenance of the road or any portion of the bridge," he said.

The PWD had laid the top bituminous layer on the approach road and on the bridge about a year ago as part of the renovation of GT Road, another official said.

On Friday, Badri Narayan, the divisional railway manager, Howrah, stressed that the railways was not responsible for the stretch where the accident occurred. He said the railway authorities would write a letter to the PWD, officially informing them about this.

In case of new bridges in Howrah and neighbouring areas, there are official agreements between the railways and the state government, clearly demarcating the responsibilities, he said.

But there's no such document for old bridges. Rail officials are preparing a list of such bridges, he said.

D.P. Singh, police commissioner of Howrah, said the place had been cordoned off. "We have informed the mayor who is the nodal authority in such cases," Singh said.

Mayor Rathin Chakraborty did not take calls.

Law student Om Prakash Singh, who often crosses the bridge on his way to the Howrah district and sessions court, said it was difficult to negotiate the dimly-lit stretch in the dark.

"It is a death trap for the elderly," he said.

A staircase near the accident spot leads to an entrance of Salkia Vikram Vidyalaya. "I shudder to think that my children and many other kids take the footpath daily to reach school," Dayashankar Ram, a railway employee who lives nearby, said.