Kolkata:: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday asked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to not politicise the Kolkata flyover collapse incident.
“Everyone has a right to go on an election campaign and express his views, but, the unfortunate incident in Kolkata should not be politicised. We monitored the rescue efforts, in fact Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar monitored the situation throughout the night, but we never politicised the issue,” Naqvi told ANI.
“This is a case of corruption and a nexus of corruption, in which the government of the state is involved. This is not an act of god, it is an act of corruption,” he added.
Meanwhile, Gandhi has met the injured and the families of the victims of the March 31 flyover collapse.
“There has been a tragedy here. I wanted to come here and give my support to the people who are injured. One must give support what we can. I came here to visit the injured people. I don’t want to make any political statement,” he said after meeting the injured at the Kolkata Medical College.
The state government had earlier announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs. five lakh to next of kin of the victims and Rs. two lakh to gravely injured people.
The Hyderabad-based construction company IVRCL, which was constructing the flyover, said that the unfortunate incident was an accident and maintained that it was beyond anyone’s control. (ANI)