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| Construction Firm Charged in India Overpass Collapse | Construction Firm Charged in India Overpass Collapse |
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| NEW DELHI — The police in Kolkata, India, on Friday filed charges of culpable homicide and criminal breach of trust against the company that was building an elevated highway that collapsed on Thursday, and then detained eight executives of the firm. | NEW DELHI — The police in Kolkata, India, on Friday filed charges of culpable homicide and criminal breach of trust against the company that was building an elevated highway that collapsed on Thursday, and then detained eight executives of the firm. |
| At least 23 people were killed in the accident in the crowded Ganesh Talkies area of Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, and 85 people were injured, the police said. At a news conference on Friday in Hyderabad, where the firm, IVRCL, is based, company officials said they were shocked by the incident but refused to comment on the police complaint, saying they had not seen it. | |
| As rescue operations continued on Friday, television footage showed cranes lifting steel plates, bulldozers clearing concrete rubble, and workers cutting metal slabs into smaller pieces to lift them out of the wreckage. Part of the highway was twisted and hanging down, said Sandeep Channan, an official with the National Disaster Relief Force, and engineers were working to stabilize it. | As rescue operations continued on Friday, television footage showed cranes lifting steel plates, bulldozers clearing concrete rubble, and workers cutting metal slabs into smaller pieces to lift them out of the wreckage. Part of the highway was twisted and hanging down, said Sandeep Channan, an official with the National Disaster Relief Force, and engineers were working to stabilize it. |
| IVRCL, a major construction firm carrying out irrigation, road, mining and power projects across India, as well as in Sri Lanka, the Middle East and Africa, has come under intense scrutiny. | |
| Derek O’Brien, a spokesman for the state of West Bengal, which includes Kolkata, said the company had been barred from doing business in Uttar Pradesh state and, local news outlets reported, several other states. | Derek O’Brien, a spokesman for the state of West Bengal, which includes Kolkata, said the company had been barred from doing business in Uttar Pradesh state and, local news outlets reported, several other states. |
| “The company has a bad reputation,” he told the news agency ANI. “The law will take its own course. No one will be spared.” IVRCL could not be immediately reached for comment. | |
| West Bengal’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, told the news agency Press Trust of India that IVRCL had been awarded the contract to build the highway in 2009, under a previous administration. | |
| Bureaucratic and other delays hampered the project from the start. The company said on its website that the project was among its toughest, cutting through a crowded neighborhood and requiring heavy machinery. Construction time was limited to six hours a day. | Bureaucratic and other delays hampered the project from the start. The company said on its website that the project was among its toughest, cutting through a crowded neighborhood and requiring heavy machinery. Construction time was limited to six hours a day. |
| The company had been struggling with debt. After a restructuring plan fell apart early this year, banks that were its largest debtors converted their debt into equity, taking control of the company, the Press Trust of India reported. | |
| Under Indian law, banks can hold the equity for 18 months while they seek new ownership. | Under Indian law, banks can hold the equity for 18 months while they seek new ownership. |