Varanasi Flyover Collapse, 15 May 2018, 05:40 PM – After a Fortnight

15 May 2018 + 14 days = 29 May 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK1yq6Do_TI

Reports that up to 50 persons were crushed to death including 1 Roadways bus, 1 minibus, 4 cars, 2 autos and bikes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP2mNRu7Wcc

Reports that more than 50 persons died.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucZnk7eQjXI

Shows clearly the number of cars, few with people inside.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpIrBtW1Uwo

Witness Mr. Umesh says that more than 100 persons must have died. They were setting the beams as it fell.

 

The list of casualties:

Name                                                                          Address

 

Mr. Rambahadur Singh                                           Chhapra

Mr. Kumar Vaibhav son of Rambahadur             Chhapra

Mr. Khushhaal Ram                                                 Sahedi, Ghazipur

Mr. Sanjay son of Mr. Khushhaal Ram                 Sahedi, Ghazipur

Mr. Shivbachan Ram s/o Mr. Khushhaal Ram     Sahedi, Ghazipur

Mr. Virendra Yadav                                                     Latwa, Ghazipur

Mr. Bhavaani [Singh] (NDRF)                                   [Aligarh, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgdnEC5X6o4%5D

Mr. Ram Milan Chauhan                                        Mau

Ms. Vidya Devi                                                          Bandarpur, Khuthan, Jaunpur

Mr. Ram Chandra s/o Ms. Vidya    Devi             Bandarpur, Khuthan, Jaunpur

Mr. Arun Verma                                                       Bandarpur, Khuthan, Jaunpur

Mr. Raghunath                                                         Jaunpur

3 unidentified persons                                            Unknown

Ashwani’s father                                                       [Basti, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge7pEB76RH8]

 

 “Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered proceedings for strict penal action against former Managing Director of UP Bridge Corporation Rajan Mittal and six others” (http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/up-flyover-collapse-adidyanath-orders-action-against-7-officials/article23923178.ece).

The persons involved were:

S No	Name	Designation
1	Mr Rajan Mittal	MD, UP Bridge Corporation
2	Mr. H. C. Tewari	Chief Project Manager
3	Mr. K. R. Sudan	Project Manager
4	Mr. Rajesh Singh	Assistant Engineer
5	Mr. Lal Chand	Engineer
6	Mr. Rajesh Pal	Additional Project Manager
7	Mr. Genda Lal	The former Project Manager

 

The CM had constituted an enquiry committee that submitted its report on Thursday, 17 May 2018, at night.

Today, even fourteen days after that tragedy, no concrete information regarding action to be taken against the persons responsible has been shared with the people. Media of all kind did not report the aftermath or follow up at national level. Only local newspapers give space to its follow up and even that space is getting reduced every day.

I had posted a fortnight ago that such is the fate of all grave tragedies and their reports in India where even 100 deaths mean nothing. They can’t even bring the sitting MP to his constituency to offer his condolences. The pattern is being repeated in Varanasi. I can see this case and all investigation reports being prepared for a permanent burial.

At my level I will keep following it up.

Letter to our MP: Varanasi Flyover Collapse

Dear Sir,

This note is both a complaint and an expression of wonder from a very ordinary person from Varanasi that is your Lok Sabha constituency. It’s related to the Flyover Collapse on 15 May 2018. In the beginning, i.e. on 15 and 16 May, I had expected that our MP would be there in our hour of need. Then I realized that you were busy trying to lead your party to a majority in a very important state in southern India.

I hoped you’d come after the things settled down there. They did, in a way, but you did not visit Varanasi. I checked it at http://www.pmindia.gov.in and you are not on any official domestic or international visit either.

I know that the constitution lays down no duties or responsibilities for the Members of Indian Parliament, but I’m sure that you intend to come here soon. After all, humanity is greater than any constitution, and I think that I don’t need to remind you that it’s your duty as a human functionary to stand with those who voted you to your present position so that you could do something for them and for the nation. Meeting them to express your heartfelt grief at their misfortune beats all the tweets that could be made from a thousand miles away. Please do come and visit your constituency.

Thanks

Yours truly

Rajnish Mishra

Varanasi Flyover Collapse: Who is Responsible?

The Chief Minster had constituted a state level committee for investigating the Varanasi Flyover collapse of 15 May 2018. He had ordered the committee to table its report within forty-eight hours. The three member committee of APC Mr. Raj Pratap Singh, the Chief Engineer of Irrigation Department Mr. Bhupendra Sharma, and MD Jal Nigam Mr. Rajesh Mittal did just that. Although the full report was not made public, its highlight were:

The drawing of the bridge was not approved. There were no tie beams between columns. There was no record of the batch mix plant, i.e. the proportion of cement, sand and grit. The construction area was not barricaded. The checklist of concrete was not present at the site.

The Varanasi Edition of Hindustan had printed a report about what happened at around 5:15 PM on 15 May 2018. According to its unnamed “sources”, while the bearing under a beam was being removed, it was imbalanced and fell down. It hung mid-air for a moment and then fell upon the vehicles below. The Supervisor and the labourers fleed the scene immediately. No P.W.D. officer or Bridge Corporation officer was found around the spot just after the incident.

If the report, or the newspaper, or the “sources” can be believed, and as I am an Indian, I don’t find the reported actions of all the responsible or involved functionaries at all strange, then they were the real and immediate criminals. The officers to whom they reported were criminals in extension. Both the kind of criminals ought to be punished. Will the court of law take this reported incident into consideration?

Varanasi Flyover Collapse: The Case of the Missing Persons

1. There’s a house at Alaipura, Varanasi where a family is still waiting for an elderly gentleman. After waiting through the evening of 15 May 2018, Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim went looking for his elder brother Mr. Khaleel at around the midnight. He went to all the hospitals of Varanasi but his brother was nowhere to be found. He then went to the exact location where the section of that flyover had fallen and searched frantically for his brother. When people asked him about it he told them that his brother had gone to visit a shrine at Baulia on the afternoon of 15 May 2018. He was returning home at around five twenty in the evening when the a section of the flyover collapsed. As his brother was neither in the list of deceased, nor among the injured he decided to keep searching until he found him.   

2. Mr. Rajesh of Nakkhighat had gone to buy a car and had taken his father-in-law Mr. Bhaironath along. The incident happened while they were returning home. Mr. Bhaironath and the Driver were missing till the time the report was printed.  

The Second Question from Varanasi

Varanasi has the “honour” of being the Lok Sabha constituency of our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. The MP from Varanasi tweeted about the flyover collapse from a faraway place:

“Extremely saddened by the loss of lives due to the collapse of an under-construction flyover in Varanasi. I pray that the injured recover soon. Spoke to officials and asked them to ensure all possible support to those affected”. 

Then he tweeted:

“The UP Government is monitoring the situation very closely and is working on the ground to assist the affected”.

(https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/under-construction-flyover-collapses-in-varanasi-atleast-12-dead/articleshow/64177996.cms)

That was and is all he could manage to do as he was very busy leading the nation to a brighter tomorrow. Remember Karnataka? After all he is a Prime Minister first, and only then is he a Member of Parliament. And the number fifteen does not carry a lot of weight for a man who is the elected leader of nearly 140000000.

Logic apart, I googled “duties of a PM” and “duties of an MP” and found out two interesting things.

The first one was that among so many roles and responsibilities of a PM, his constituency that voted for him is mentioned not even once.

I have copied the second interesting fact directly from (http://www.elections.in/political-corner/roles-of-councillors-mlas-and-mps-in-india/):

No Defined Responsibilities of MPs and MLAs

There is no denying the fact that the duties and responsibilities of MPs and MLAs are not defined in the Constitution. According to the Lok Sabha secretariat, there is no such provision even in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha that defines duties and responsibilities of members of Parliament or through which the accountability can be fixed on non-performing MPs. Even the state Assemblies admit that there is no rule through which the non-performing MLAs can be pulled up.

 

Therefore, the constitution does not have anything to direct Mr. Modi’s feet towards Varanasi. We, the people of Varanasi, cannot. I only hope his conscience does. Although over a week has passed since then, and the Karnataka episode is over too, he shows no sign of planning to reach his constituency.

The second question from Varanasi is:

When will our MP come to visit us?

The First Question from Varanasi

Seven days have passed since the flyover collapse in Varanasi on 15 May 2018. “Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced a three-member committee to probe into the accident and give its report within 48 hours” (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/under-construction-flyover-collapses-in-varanasi-atleast-12-dead/articleshow/64177996.cms).  

Although it was stated nowhere whether those 48 hours began at 5:40 PM on 15 May 2018 or at some later time, I take it as starting on 16 May 2018 morning, say at 10 AM. Even a conservative calculation puts the end of that period at 10 AM on 18 May 2018.

The report was submitted on 17 May 2018, Thursday, at night.

“Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered proceedings for strict penal action against former Managing Director of UP Bridge Corporation Rajan Mittal and six others” (http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/up-flyover-collapse-adidyanath-orders-action-against-7-officials/article23923178.ece).

The persons involved are:

S No	Name	Designation
1	Mr Rajiv Mittal	MD, UP Bridge Corporation
2	Mr. H. C. Tewari	Chief Project Manager
3	Mr. K. R. Sudan	Project Manager
4	Mr. Rajesh Singh	Assistant Engineer
5	Mr. Lal Chand	Engineer
6	Mr. Rajesh Pal	Additional Project Manager
7	Mr. Genda Lal	The former Project Manager

Five days have passed since the report was submitted to the CM of Uttar Pradesh. His office has not shared any information with media or people. The family and friends of the fifteen deceased have a right to know what is in that report.

The first question from Varanasi is:

Do the CM and his office intend to share it in near, or even distant, future with us?

 

Identifying the Unidentified Dead Persons in Varanasi Flyover Collapse, 15 May 2018

In the official list of the deceased in the Varanasi Flyover Incident of 15 May there were 7 out of 15 persons that were not identified with name and address. Their list is given below:

Name                                                                                   Address

Mr. Rambahadur Singh                                                Unknown

Mr. Kumar Vaibhav son of Rambahadur                Unknown

Mr. Bhavaani (NDRF)                                                     Unknown

Driver of Bolero UP 61Y 2294                                       Unknown

3 unidentified persons                                                 Unknown

 

I posted the information at facebook with an appeal for justice to the deceased. Their relatives and acquaintances from Varanasi identified some of them.

Mr. Dhiraj Yadav, Mr. Virendra Yadav’s nephew, informed me through facebook that the person identified as only “the Bolero driver” was Mr. Virendra Yadav, from Latwa, Ghazipur. He was the only earning member of his nuclear family and has little children at home. He with Mr. Sanjay whose name is mentioned in the list. 

Mr. Pushpraj Singh, Mr. Ram Bahadur’s neighbour, informed me that Mr. Ram Bahadur Singh and his son Mr. Vaibhav were from Chhapra, Bihar. They used to live at Kanchanpur, Varanasi. Mr. Rambahadur’s wife and daughter left for Chhapra after cremating half of their family in the City of Light, where their loved ones were sent to an untimely death due to someone else’s negligence and criminally corrupt practices.

I still don’t have the address and family details of Mr. Bhavaani of NDRF and I have no information on the three unidentified deceased persons at the end of the list. I am not very hopeful about the government’s finding and sharing their details with us. I can only request the readers out their to help. 

Varanasi Flyover: Tragic Deaths

In a previous post on the tragic Varanasi flyover mishap that happened at around 5:30 pm on 15 May 2018, I had mentioned that the national newspapers did not cover the event after 16 May. I had also mentioned that the names of those who died that day was published nowhere. I have an additional information on that. At local level the names of fifteen out of eighteen who had died was printed in Hinduatan, the Hindi daily. I am sharing them here.

S. No.	Name	Address
1	Mr. Rambahadur Singh	Unknown
2	Mr. Kumar Vaibhav son of Rambahadur	Unknown
3	Mr. Khushhaal Ram	Sahedi, Ghazipur
4	Mr. Sanjay son of Mr. Khushhaal Ram	Sahedi, Ghazipur
5	Mr. Shivbachan son of Mr. Khushhaal Ram	Sahedi, Ghazipur
6	Mr. Bhavaani (NDRF)	Unknown
7	Mr. Ram Milan Chauhan	Mau
8	Ms. Vidya Devi	Bandarpur, Khuthan, Jaunpur
9	Mr. Ram Chandra s/o Ms. Vidya Devi	Bandarpur, Khuthan, Jaunpur
10	Mr. Arun Verma	Bandarpur, Khuthan, Jaunpur
11	Mr. Raghunath	Jaunpur
12	Driver of Bolero UP 61Y 2294	Unknown
13	3 unidentified persons	Unknown

 

15 May 2018, Varanasi

15 May 2018, Varanasi

“What’s in a name?“, asks a character in Shakespeare’s play.

Let’s begin with four names: Mr. HC Tiwari, Mr. KR Sudan, Mr. Rajesh Singh and Mr. Lal Chand.

They were suspended after being held responsible for the falling of the flyover slabs that killed eighteen according to the Hindustan Times website and nineteen according to the Times of India website. The suspension orders were issued on the day of the collapse, i.e. 15 May 2018. If history of India after its independence teaches us one thing about such suspensions, it is that they are meant to save those in power and also to save those suspended. After the whole thing is forgotten, and that will happen in less than a fortnight, who will remember the four names and what happened with them?

There was not even one person of the “Very” category among those who became victims of culpable homicide not amounting to murder on that day. How do I know that? It’s logical. Not even one photograph of the face with captions and name was flashed across any of those thirty-two plus news channels that simply can’t resist capitalizing on murder, suicide, death etc. of the very rich, very influential, very powerful or very famous persons of the nation. As all who were “not murdered” that day were just like you and I, common men and women, they had no identity or name.   

The case remained on at the first page for two days. After that it was pushed on to the fourth or fifth page. Today, just five days later, there was no update or follow up of the case in the three newspapers I scanned in Delhi NCR. Was there anything in any city other than Varanasi itself? I’m sure there wasn’t.

Why should there be any follow up? Why do we need it?

Four separate levels of investigation teams or committees were sent there. The CM had asked for a report within forty-eight hours. The other teams will also investigate simultaneously and send their reports. We don’t need the Corruption Perception Index to know the level of corruption in Indian bureaucracy. Left at its own, without any public pressure and media follow up, once more, no one will be found guilty. No one will be held accountable, and no one will be punished under sections 304 and 308 of the Indian Penal Code.

How can I say that? Here’re two case studies, of two similar collapses:

On 31 March 2016 a steel span from the Vivekananda Flyover fell down. The website of the Outlookindia puts the number of the dead at “about fourteen” common men (and women?). Ten officials of IVRCL were booked under the section 302 of IPC and sent to jail. Later section 302 was converted into section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). Two years, and nearly two months from the day of collapse, the IIT Kharagpur committee investigating the incident has not submitted its report. No action taken. No one punished.

On 9 September 2007 in Hyderabad, two persons (anybody remembers their names?) lost their lives because of another collapsed flyover. Case under section 304A, and many other sections was filed against Gammon India Limited. Eight persons were arrested after the detailed report of the technical committee in 2008. They were acquitted in 2016 as there was no evidence against them. No action taken. No one punished. 

Google gave me many more such collapses. I followed the threads of investigation, and found them similar to the cases given above. From my own analysis, I’m sure that if Varanasi flyover case is not followed up, and pressure is not maintained upon the state machinery, and if the investigation is stretched to even over six months, no one will be held responsible. No one will be found guilty, and no one will be punished for the culpable homicide not amounting to murder of nineteen Banarsis.

I don’t have high hopes as I don’t have any faith in any party in power, especially just a year before election. That’s one more reason I say we do it ourselves. I say that we stand with them whose names we don’t know, whose faces we never saw, but a part of us died with those Banarsis. We have names, and we add them with theirs. Let’s send mails to the CM, PM, leaders of the opposition etc. even when we’re sure that our mails will be ineffectual. Let’s keep reminding those in our respective circles of the incident, until we get justice, until they get justice. Let’s follow it up.

Are you with me? Till we get justice? If yes, then use your contacts and ask questions on social media. Use your influence to put a column/piece or two in print or electronic media. Contribute to the cause in your own manner. fight hard and with faith in the cause, for we want justice.

 

The Pauper-king

Once upon a time, not a very long time ago, there used to be a youth who worked in a small shop. He worked hard. He worked long hours. He was never tired and always aspired to rise. With his kind of dedication and determination he was sure to rise and he rose in life. He soared high and still higher he soared on the wings of the dreams of those like him, the poor workers of that small shop. They chose him first, and then came others, and then some more, until, he was chosen the king of the city. They loved him like their own, they made him their god.

I think the story must end here, if it has to end happily at all but not all stories end happily.

So, the new king was honest and strong and kingly and his subjects were happy. His kingdom spread, and all was well in his kingdom, until…

I think we must end the story here. Don’t you? But stories have their life. They end when they do and this one went on.

It went on to the day when the king was away, to a far off land on a military campaign. He rode his horse down south, deep south, as he followed the horse of Ashwamedh Yajna. There was no way he could let the horse be captured, and his hegemony challenged. The king had a kingdom to expand, a war to fight and other kingdoms to win. So, he went on. battle after battle, he won. He crushed all opposition with might, and might is always right, as it’s said.

Even here, if the story ended, I’d call it happy. It did not, and went on.

While the king was away, the ceiling of the shop he once worked in caved in and all those men and women, poor friends of the king when he was no king, were buried while alive in it. Pigeons flew with the news to the king, the king read the message and shed two drops of tears from his right eye, and two from his left one. He could weep and laugh at will, for public display. Then he spurred his horse on and won again, and again, until he had won all the land there was to win. For that was all he had ever wanted. It was him, his dreams, his vision and goals. Those poor people just never existed. 

I think that the story ends here. For now.