Flyover sub-contractor had TMC links, says BJP

CM awarded tender to IVRCL when she was rail minister

Hours before the first phase of polling for elections, the BJP brought the onus for Thursday’s flyover collapse on Trinamool Congress’ doorstep.

The material contractor for the flyover was the relative of a ruling party leader, the BJP said. Accusing that the material and labour contractor for the flyover was the nephew of Trinamool leader Sanjoy Bakshi, BJP’s Sidharth Nath Singh directly held Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee responsible.

He said that despite being a blacklisted company, Banerjee awarded a tender to IVRCL for a railway project during her tenure as the rail minister between 2009 and 2011.

IVRCL, a Hyderabad-based infrastructure company, was constructing the flyover in North Kolkata in a joint venture with the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, the nodal agency for the state urban development department.
 While the flyover’s planning and construction has been found faulty, Mamata had put the tragedy’s blame on the Left Front, during whose regime the project was commissioned.

Singh told reporters that as Rail minster, Mamata awarded the contract for the Rs 761-crore Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramula Railway Tunnel to IVRCL despite the firm undergoing a CBI inquiry. 

Recent reports suggest that IVRCL came under CBI scanner in Jharkhand, where it failed to meet contractual obligations in rural infrastructure projects and for offering kickbacks to gain contracts.

Singh, who claimed to have acquired the railway contract via an RTI application, said, “The contract, given to IVRCL’s joint venture with KMB, was cancelled on April 11, 2014, only after 10% of work was one. The bank guarantees furnished by the joint venture were encashed as penalty. Mamataji knew IVRCL was facing enquiry for supplying poor quality material to build houses for tsunami victims. She can’t deny awarding them the contract or not knowing they were black-listed.”

Singh added that IVRCL awarded a sub-contract for the flyover to Sandhyamani Projects, a company owned by Rajat Bakshi, the nephew of Sanjoy, whose wife Smita is the Trinamool candidate from Jorasanko, the Assembly constituency under which the flyover falls. 

“Sandhyamani supplied cement and steel sheets for the portion of the flyover that collapsed but the police are yet to file a complaint against him,” he alleged.Senior officials from Kolkata Police, however, claimed they have been looking for Rajat since Friday to determine his role in the tragedy.

The police have formed a 23-member Special Investigation Team and lodged a case under several sections, including 302 of the Indian Penal Code, for homicide.Officers admitted that while the case has been lodged against IVRCL, others could also face investigation, but they did not want to comment on if that included Rajat.