Kolkata warehouse roof collapse: JU’s architectural experts assigned to identify structural design flaws

Kolkata, June 30 (IANS) The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the case of the under-construction warehouse roof collapse at Taratala in South Kolkata last week that claimed 16 lives, has assigned architectural experts from Jadavpur University (JU) to identify the flaws in the structural design of the collapsed structure.

Insiders from the city police said the team of architectural experts from JU, the premier engineering institute in the state and the country, will examine whether the warehouse was built according to the original design or whether there were deviations during construction.

At the same time, the investigating cops are conducting thorough searches at Abdul Hamid’s residence, who was arrested in this incident based on findings that he was responsible for getting the construction sanction plan passed by the previous Trinamool Congress-run board of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

The SIT of the city police, probing the matter, had already sought further details from the KMC and the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT). The warehouse project was underway on land owned by KoPT, which was leased to the warehouse owner, Sambhunath Behra. On the other hand, the construction plan was sanctioned by the KMC authorities.

The owner of the warehouse, Sambhunath Behra, and Kalicharan Banerjee, the former OSD of former Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Firhad Hakim, have already been arrested in this connection. City police insiders said both arrested persons are still not speaking much during interrogation.

In such a situation, the SIT members are examining the documents recovered from Behra Brothers. The sleuths are also trying to figure out whether there was any brokerage angle to the land lease. They are also trying to find out whether any time has been fixed for the completion of the work.

Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Mazdoor Cell filed a police complaint at Taratala Police Station against Firhad Hakim and two Trinamool Congress councillors, Anwar Khan and Shams Iqbal, in the disaster case.

A preliminary probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kolkata Police in the roof collapse case has revealed that a combination of two factors – the use of poor-quality construction material and adopting a flawed casting pattern – led to the mishap, which has claimed 16 lives so far.

–IANS

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