Bhubaneswar: Even before the completion of the rescue operations after the collapse of the flyover, political blame game began between the principal political parties of the state. After meeting the injured at the Capital Hospital, leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra held Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik accountable for the mishap. “Being the minister in-charge of works department, which is executing the project, Naveen is morally responsible for the mishap,” Mishra told reporters. “No doubt the prime accused is the contractor for whose omission the incident took place, but the department officials in-charge of supervision cannot escape,” he said. The Congress leader also demanded compensation of`1 crore to the next of the kin of the deceased and `1 lakh to the injured persons along with free treatment. Mishra claimed that the locals informed him that a ruling party MLA, who happens to be an ex-minister, is the business partner of the contractor, Panda Infrastructure
Pvt Ltd. “If the allegation is true, it is really most unfortunate and speaks of the government in the state,” he added. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan said people are of the opinion that substandard works led to the accident. “There must be exemplary punishment to the guilty,” the minister said in a tweet. State BJP president Basant Panda, along with his followers, visited the spot and Capital Hospital. Panda also alleged that the incident happened due to poor quality of work. BJP leader Prithviraj Harichandan also pointed a finger towards a BJD leader and exminister. However, none of them have revealed the name of the BJD
leader. The names of two young BJD legislators and former ministers Arun Kumar Sahoo and Sanjay Das Burma are doing rounds. The two Opposition parties have decided to raise the issue on the floor of the Assembly, Monday. BJD spokesperson Amar Prasad Satpathy, however, said the incident should not be politicised. “An unfortunate incident has happened. The government has taken it seriously and already ordered a probe.
The guilty will not be spared. However, the Opposition should desist from scoring political brownie points,” Satpathy said. All Orissa Contractors Association president Prabhat Das accused the work secretary NK Pradhan of showing undue favour to the contractor and demanded his suspension.
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