An under-construction flyover, coursing through a busy street in north Kolkata, came crashing down Thursday afternoon, possibly killing several people. Eyewitnessed said there was a loud explosion accompanied by a crashing sound. Many vehicles are believed to have been crushed under the weight of the flyover. Here's a background of the flyover. LIVE UPDATES OF KOLKATA FLYOVER COLLAPSE The Vivekananda Road flyover is a Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) project which was nearing completion. It is a Rs 164-crore project which the Left front government had initiated in 2007 to facilitate the movement of traffic as well as pedestrians in this busy and clogged stretch of the central business district in Burrabazar-Posta. The completion of the bridge was expected to ease the congestion of vehicular traffic as well as men moving from north and east Kolkata to Howrah. [related-post] It was learnt that right from its inception, local people objected to its design as some stretches of the flyover crossed menacingly close to multi-storied buildings, flanking on both sides of the existing road stretch. State government sources said there was considerable pressure from the state urban development department to ensure speedy completion of the project. There were some outstanding issue of land clearance to be given by the Kolkata Port Trust to the state government on the Howrah end of the flyover. But the issue was reportedly resolved after the intervention of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and work was on full swing on the flyover for its speedy completion. The collapse of the flyover comes just days ahead of the start of the Assembly elections in West Bengal.
