Did Unskilled ‘Syndicate’ Labourers Lead to the Flyover Collapse?

Subcontractors were allegedly supplying untrained labourers and charging for trained personnel.

Vehicles crushed under the collapsed flyover in Kolkata. (Photo: PTI)

Subcontractors working on the doomed Kolkata flyover, which claimed over two dozen lives after its collapse last week, were allegedly supplying untrained labourers and charging for trained personnel, reports The Telegraph.

Welding and the construction of scaffoldings on which the concrete deck slabs are laid are specialised jobs requiring skilled labour, engineers said on Monday. But documents The Telegraph has accessed reveal that at least two such technical jobs on the Vivekananda Road flyover – shuttering and binding – were done by labourers supplied by Trinamool “syndicates”. Some of the workers at the site said that unskilled syndicate workers did welding jobs too at the flyover.

Watch: CCTV Camera Captures a Chilling Moment of Kolkata Flyover Collapse

The report also notes that engineers cited the improper welding of a crucial joint as one reason why, after the concrete was laid, it couldn’t take the pressure.

Quoting sources, The Telegraph reported that IVRCL, the company that had the contract for the flyover, paid the sub-contractors the minimum wage but the full amount never reached the workers.

Read the full report here.

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