IVRCL washes its hands off Kolkata incident, says flyover collapse was an accident

Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based construction company IVRCL, which has been drawing flak for describing yesterday`s flyover collapse in Kolkata as an `Act of God`, on Friday said that the expression was used to state that the mishap was beyond anyone`s control.

"`Act of God` was just an expression used to say that it was in no one`s control. It was just a synonym of `no one`s control`," IVRCL legal head Sita told the media here.

Interacting with the media, representatives of the company washed their hands off of the tragedy and said, "It is not a case of negligence. The material used in constructing 59 pillars, was used in the 60th pillar also. Unfortunately it collapsed. We are also shocked that the flyover collapsed. We are also anxious to know why it happened. IVRCL will co-operate in the investigation. We have informed all our concerned authorities to be available for the investigating agency."

The company said that its legal team is supporting the investigation and no officials have been questioned so far.

"We have no information about the FIRs because they have not been served to us so far. We don`t know what the content of the FIR is. The legal team is supporting the investigation. No officials have been questioned," she added.

She further said that it was an accident and cannot fix responsibility on anyone.

The death toll in yesterday`s flyover collapse that took place in Girish Park area has risen to 24 as per latest reports.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had last evening confirmed that 21 had died and 85 others injured in the mishap.

The rescue work has been going on war footing. The military and NDRF teams are using heavy earth movers and gas cutting paraphernalia to complete the operation as soon as possible but several more hours will be needed to clear the debris.The state government has announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs five lakh to next of kin of the victims and Rs two lakh to gravely injured people.