Responding to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s allegations that the Railways has been delaying the construction of Majerhat Bridge, the Eastern Railways said on Twitter that all the codal formalities from the Railways have been completed concerning the Majerhat Bridge and it is only awaiting the mandatory safety certificate from the PWD department of the West Bengal government.
“All codal formalities prior to the opening of the ROB have been completed. It is expected that mandatory safety certificate from PWD will be received shortly for giving clearance by Railways. No other issue is pending with Railways,” the tweet said.
Mandatory safety certificate is awaited from the State Government (PWD). Nothing is pending and no delay on the part of Railways.
— Eastern Railway (@EasternRailway) November 26, 2020
In the subsequent tweet, the Eastern Railways informed that there is no delay on the Railways’ part and it is waiting for the state government’s PWD department to issue the mandatory safety certificate.
Mamata Banerjee blames the Railways for the delay in the opening of the Majerhat bridge
The riposte from the Eastern Railways came after Mamata Banerjee yesterday alleged that the Railways has been delaying the construction of the Majerhat Bridge, a part of which had collapsed on 4 September 2018, killing two people.
Banerjee had blamed the Railways for the slowing down of the construction of the bridge, alleging that the department had delayed the clearance for nine months.
Speaking to media at Nabanna, Banerjee said, “For nine months, the railways kept delaying giving permission. You, BJP party, were you sleeping then? For nine months, we had repeated meeting with them, requesting them for clearance.”
Banerjee further added, “For the last two years, people of Behala and South Kolkata have suffered so much because of Railways continued delaying the construction. They did not approve the permission at the right time because of which we are facing this delay.”
The West Bengal chief minister also added that though the bridge looked “completed”, it wasn’t and alleged that only the PWD related work of the bridge is completed. She claimed that there were some technicalities that need to be cleared by the Railways before they gave their 100 per cent clearance and stated that it will take another 7-8 days.
Besides Railways, Banerjee also trained the guns on the BJP, alleging that because of the saffron party, the construction of the bridge had been delayed.
Claiming that she had done enough for the people of Behala, Mamata proceeded on enlisting the development work supposedly carried out by her government in the neighbourhood. “I’ve done the metro in Behala. We are constructing the Majerhat Bridge. I’ve named a stadium after Satyajit Ray in Behala. All kinds of development work in Behala has been done by me,” she said.
Clashes broke out between Police and BJP workers over the delay in construction of the bridge
Banerjee’s allegations came in the wake of the clashes that had broken out between the West Bengal police and BJP workers after the latter were stopped short of the Bridge in the southwestern part of Kolkata. The police had placed barricades to stop the BJP workers from marching towards the bridge, demanding immediate re-opening.
The police also employed lathi-charge to disperse the protestors. The barricades were set up nearby Taratala More to prevent the BJP cadre from marching towards the construction site, following which the BJP activists allegedly clashed with the police forces. Many of the demonstrators were detained by the police.