Varanasi flyover collapse: UP Bridge Corp MD blames thunderstorm; updates

The tragic Varanasi flyover collapse in the high-profile Lok Sabha constituency represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has posed a big question mark on the standard of work carried out by the UP Bridge Corporation in the recent past. The state-run corporation, which had once earned kudos bagging projects not only in other states but also in Iraq, Yemen and Nepal, has been at the receiving end recently, according to a senior official in the Public Works Department (PWD). During peak traffic hours on Tuesday evening, two pillars of an under-construction flyover in Varanasi's Cantt area had collapsed, bringing down a huge slab, which crushed a mini-bus, cars and two-wheelers. As many as 15 people were reported killed and 11 others injured.

Several people got crushed or trapped under the debris in the incident and, according to Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar, around 7 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams of over 325 personnel had to be deployed for relief operations at the site of the Varanasi under-construction flyover collapse. Former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav also asked his party members to reach the accident site and help the people there. Work on the flyover, which would connect Chaukaghat and Lahartara, began on October 1, 2015, when Akhilesh Yadav was the chief minister.