11 dead in Kolkata warehouse collapse; CM says ex-mayor signed flawed plan for money

THe toll in the calcutta storage warehouse burst mounted to 11 on th even out as West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari reiterated his claim that corruption during the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government was responsible for the incident.Meanwhile, the police arrested five people, including the owner of the warehouse business, Shambhu Nath Behera. The other arrested individuals are Gulzar Hussain, the project supervisor, Kamal Samanta, the fabricator of the structure, Dibakar Samanta, the labour supplier and Abdul Hamid, the broker who got the project sanctioned.On Wednesday, a four-storey under-construction warehouse collapsed in south-west Kolkata’s Taratala around 12.07 pm, prompting authorities to launch a large-scale rescue operation.At least 25 people were rescued till Wednesday evening.After the incident, the CM said that the building was reportedly flawed and its plan was possibly passed by the TMC-controlled Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in exchange for money.“We have found all the records. What happened is a fallout of your sins. This building plan was sanctioned by you on January 17 this year. By taking money you have turned the City of Joy and greater Kolkata into a city of death. So many buildings collapsed and people died but you did not learn your lesson,” Adhikari told the rebel TMC legislators whom the speaker recognised as the official opposition party.Addressing the assembly on Thursday, the CM announced compensation of ₹10 lakh each for the kin of the deceased and ₹1 lakh for the injured admitted to the state-run SSKM Hospital. The Prime Minister’s Office separately announced a compensation of ₹2 lakh for the kin of the deceased and ₹50,000 for the injured.Adhikari attacked the TMC, naming three KMC engineers and former mayor Firhad Hakim’s personal assistant Kalicharan Banerjee, referring to him as “Kali”“It is found that Aminur Sheikh, sub-assistant engineer, Nirmalendu Sardar, assistant engineer and Ranjan Das, executive engineer, have not discharged their duties regarding the premises,” Adhikari said.“See how you approved a faulty plan although it shows a structural defect. The plan bears the signature of the former mayor,” Adhikari said without naming Hakim. The KMC has been administered by its commissioner Smita Pandey, an IAS officer, since then.“There is no chance of letting anyone go without punishment. We will not let any building come up without an audit,” said the CM and announced the formation of an audit committee. “We have arrested five people so far,” he said.Kolkata Police’s SIT detained Firhad Hakim’s former personal assistant Kalicharan Banerjee for questioning on Thursday.Hakim claimed he had no idea about the building plan’s sanctioning, even though the clearance certificate bore his signature. “I had set up many systems for sanctioning building plans. As far as I know it is not illegal. It (the collapse) happened because there was a lack of supervision. As a mayor I did not supervise projects or inspected materials used. I am not an engineer,” he told the media.The Kolkata Police filed a suo motu FIR at Taratala police station on Wednesday under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 3(5) (joint criminal liability) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), additional commissioner of police (crime) Kunal Agrawal said at a press conference.