Portion of the Burdwan Railway station building collapsed, five people injured

This is due to rampant corruption by Railway engineers

Life of a common man matters! Why the Railway engineering works are very poor in quality? Is there any mechanism to check them?

Kolkata : A portion of the Burdwan Railway Station building collapsed on Saturday evening, injuring five people and leaving many people trapped inside. No causalities have been reported so far.

Work is on to remove the debris and look for people who might be trapped under it, an Eastern Railway official said. “The portion of the station building at Burdwan collapsed at 8.10 pm,” he said.

Construction activity was underway at the site where the collapse took place, another official said. Burdwan Railway Station, located about 95 km from Howrah and Kolkata, is on the busy Howrah-New Delhi line.

According to the reliable sources, recently the station building was renovated, spending few crores. Later on, beautification of station building and premises were done. This accident raised the quality of work being done by railways.

Local MLA has sought enquiry into the accident. MLA further said that this is due to rampant corruption by Railway engineers.

The accident should be taken seriously and the corrupt engineers should be taken up, the MLA said.

It raises question mark on the role of higher Railway officials.

Local contract workers when contacted said that the company need to pay ‘gifts’ as cash or kind to the railway engineers and hence maintaining quality is difficult.

Local MP said he will raise this issue to the highest level and will do his best to get the culprits punished.

Remember, Four months ago, one person had died and at least six labourers were injured after an under-construction Railway platform shed at Shalimar station in Howrah collapsed.

An eye witness at the site said life of a common man matters. Why the Railway engineering works are poor in quality? Is there any mechanism to check them?