The mishap occurred on Tuesday morning in the Bengaluru Nagavara area when a metro railway pillar crashed on a family.
The pillar was being constructed in the Bengaluru Nagavara area, on the road from Kalyan Nagar to HRBR Layout collapsed on the road on Bengaluru a family of four was reportedly traveling on a bike when the incident took place. The woman’s husband and daughter have been hospitalized with injuries.
The two victims have been identified as Tejaswini and Vihaan. Bheemashankar S Guled, DCP East Bengaluru said, “This morning around 10:45 am, the couple along with their twin children were traveling towards Hebbal when the metro pillar collapsed on the bike. The mother, Tejaswini, and son Vihaan were seriously injured and shifted to Altis Hospital where both of them succumbed to their injuries,” reported ANI.
The DCP also added that forensic experts are at the incident site and are investigating the case. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai assured that the reason for the pillar collapse will be investigated. “I just got to know about it, we will get it investigated. We will ascertain the reason for the collapse of the pillar and provide compensation,” he told reporters in Dharwad.
The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has announced financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh for the family. Anjum Parvez, Managing Director, BMRCL said that a detailed probe will be done to understand if it was a technical error or manmade.
“We follow the highest quality standards possible when it comes to construction, detailed probe will be done and will see if it was a technical error or manmade. Steps will be taken to prevent such incidents from happening again,” he said.
40 Percent Commission Corruption in Karnataka
A Congress supporter tweeted, “Mr Bommai you cannot hide yourselves from Corruption going on in Karnataka.
#40PercentCommission showing it’s effect”
Mr Bommai you cannot hide yourselves from Corruption going on in Karnataka.
#40PercentCommission showing it's effect pic.twitter.com/994su1AGwQ— Pratham ⚡ (@PRATHAM_D_P) January 10, 2023
What is the 40 Percent Commission?
The 40% commission remark was in reference to the allegations made by the Karnataka State Contractors Association that government officials, Karnataka BJP MLAs, and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa demand 40% commission or bribe from contractors for every project. The Association had even sent a letter to the Chief Minister, Prime Minister Modi, and Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot. The letters have been unanswered but the BJP and the Minister have denied the allegations.
“After writing to the prime minister (on July 6, 2021), we had a lot of expectations. During the run-up to (the 2018) elections, the prime minister termed the previous (Congress) regime a 10% government. we wrote to him stating that the bribery has increased to 40%.” D Kempanna, Karnataka State Contractors’ Association President stated in a press conference on March 27, as reported by Deccan Herald. 50,000 have now decided to go on a protest in April.
“10% of this bribe goes to the local MLA. Officials in the local bodies have to be given 5-7%. We have to pay another 5% to get our papers processed. The engineers overseeing the project have to be given 10%. Under this government, most times, the bribe becomes 45% of the project cost,” Kempanna is further quoted.
According to the latest allegations contractor and BJP member, Santhosh K Patil claims Eshwarappa charged him 40% commission for a work order. “I did not wait for a work order because Eshwarappa said he is the Minister and the final authority on this. So, I started the project. After that, the Model Code of Conduct came into effect because of by-elections in the district due to which, they said, they couldn’t give me the work order then. But Eshwarappa told me to not worry and continue with the work,” Patil told The News Minute.
During his two-day visit to Karnataka, Congress minister Rahul Gandhi gave the ‘40% commission minister’ remark, saying that the Karnataka government is ‘the most corrupt’.