QKolkata: Majerhat Bridge Collapses, City Comes Together For Help

Your daily lowdown of all things Kolkata.

Majerhat flyover collapses in South Kolkata.

(Photo: The Quint)

1. Amid Chaos, Cries Of Survivors

Trembling hands didn't know what to cling to. Feet chained by fear struggled to move.

In the few seconds that it took for passengers inside a Behala-Rabindranagar bus to realise that a bridge had collapsed under them, an eternity appeared to have gone by.

At ground zero, around seven metres below where there was once the deck of Majerhat bridge, Hazi Kausem saw the dazed look in the eyes of the passengers, some of them drenched in blood, groaning and unable to move.

(Source: The Telegraph)

2. Age And Lack Of Upkeep

Weakening of the support structure because of age and lack of upkeep might have led to the collapse of the Majerhat bridge, a professor of civil engineering at the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology said.

The support structure of a bridge comprises piers, beams and girders.

The beam resists the load applied to its axis. The deck, also known as the roadway or surface of a bridge, is integrated into the support structure with the beams, girders and the piers.

(Source: The Telegraph)

3. Chief Secretary To Head Probe

A committee headed by chief secretary Moloy De will probe the collapse of the Majerhat bridge, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said in Darjeeling on the evening of Tuesday, 4 September.

Mamata had been monitoring and micro-managing from the hills, the government's response to the collapse since she first heard about it from the chief secretary.

"We have been receiving information from the rescue team on the ground. We want to go back as soon as possible but there are no flights in the evening, so we are unable to go right away," said the chief minister, who brought forward her Wednesday's programme in Darjeeling from 3pm to 11am so she could leave for Bagdogra in time to catch a flight for Calcutta.

(Source: The Telegraph)

4. Netizens Lend A Helping Hand, Rush To Donate Blood

Food blogger Indrajit Lahiri’s post, urging Kolkatans to donate blood for the survivors of the Majherhat bridge collapse, stood out among the social media reactions soon after tragedy struck on Tuesday evening.

“Please curse the management later and rush for the blood banks. Your blood will be needed tonight. I’m already heading...” Lahiri wrote, providing a list of blood banks in Kolkata.

In less than half an hour, Lahiri’s post had been shared several times. He said, “I rushed to the Manicktala blood bank. Immediately after sharing my post, at least four or five donors reached out to me via messenger. It is an hour of crisis and people need to first help in the rescue operations before blaming the anyone.”

(Source: The Telegraph)

5. Bystanders Ferry Victims To Hospitals On Guard Rails

It took a while for Vicky Kumar Singh and his friends Varun Chowdhury and Dhiraj Gupta to fathom what had just happened in front of their eyes. A moment later, when they realized the flyover had collapsed, they rushed to the rescue of those trapped in the cars that took a plunge. The traffic guard rails came as a blessing. They used them to ferry the victims to hospitals.

“I was with my friends when we heard a deafening noise. Then we could hear people crying out for help. We had to act fast. Some brought bedsheets to carry the victims. But since they had several fractures, we could not use bedsheets and had use guard rails,” Singh said.

(Source: The Times Of India)

6. Protest Worry For Presi Convocation

The Presidency University authorities are fearing this year's convocation, scheduled for 11 September, would be marred by the students' agitation on the campus protesting the delay in the repair of Eden Hindu Hostel.

The students, who had started their agitation early last month, have refused to return to their accommodation in Rajarhat and threatened to continue with their agitation till they are allowed to move into Hindu Hostel, located almost a stone's throw from the university campus.

The Rajarhat accommodation is 14km from the campus.

(Source: The Telegraph)

7. Two In CBI Net For Threat

The CBI has arrested a Calcutta High Court lawyer for allegedly demanding money from a trader after threatening to implicate him in a narcotics case.

Danish Haque was rounded up when he was allegedly collecting the first instalment of bribe money from Pratap Aditya, a city-based businessman, late on Monday, 3 September, at his chamber in Park Circus.

Based on what Danish told investigating officers of the central agency, the CBI later arrested Amarendra Kumar Singh, an officer of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), on the charge of colluding with him.

(Source: The Telegraph)