The death toll in the Taratala warehouse collapse in West Bengal rose to 14 on Friday as search and rescue operations continued amid fears that more workers could still be trapped under the debris. In a related development, police arrested Kalicharan Banerjee, former officer on special duty (OSD) to ex-Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, in connection with the case.
“At least 14 persons have been killed and another 18 are injured. The death toll could rise further as some workers could still be trapped under the iron and concrete debris. Search and rescue operations are still continuing. The army, NDRF, police, civil defence and fire brigade are all at work,” a senior police officer said.
On Thursday, West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari launched a sharp attack on the former Trinamool Congress-led administration and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) board over the incident. Referring to three KMC engineers and Hakim’s former aide Kalicharan Banerjee, whom he called ‘Kali’, Adhikari alleged irregularities in the approval process.
“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, while displaying documents before a gathering of rebel TMC legislators. Hakim had joined the group after resigning as Kolkata mayor on June 5.
The TMC-led KMC board was dissolved on June 8 and the civic body has since been administered by commissioner Smita Pandey, an IAS officer.
Adhikari also took an indirect swipe at TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee by referring to his Camac Street office in Kolkata.
“Don’t we know what happened in KMC? Kali was appointed by Camac Street. Kali is building your TMC office on the EM Bypass at a cost of ₹200 crore. We know that nothing happened in KMC without Kali giving the nod,” Adhikari said.
Banerjee, a senior WBCS officer and Hakim’s former OSD, was arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by Kolkata Police to probe the collapse. Officials said he would be produced before a court on Friday.
Responding to the allegations, Hakim said he was unaware of any flaws in the approved plan. “As far as I know, the plan was not faulty. There could be negligence in supervision during the construction. The quality of materials could also be faulty. I am not aware of these,” he told reporters.
