KOLKATA: A verbal battle between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP over the unfortunate incident has spread the fire from the Morbi bridge collapse in Gujarat to West Bengal.

The bridge collapse tragedy has claimed the lives of at least 141 persons.

Snehasis Chakraborty, the transport minister for West Bengal, said that the accident was a prime illustration of the consequences of Gujarat's pervasive corruption. "BJP's central fact-finding team visits West Bengal whenever anything occurs, no matter how tiny the development may be. I now want to ask the BJP state leaders in this place if they will send a similar fact-finding team to Gujarat. In West Bengal, they are frequently on fault-finding missions. They simply want to interfere with West Bengal's state government. They should first focus on controlling the situation in Gujarat before turning their attention to West Bengal, Chakraborty advised.

Tapas Roy, a senior Trinamool Congress lawmaker, said that the accident was proof of how empty the BJP and the Gujarat government's lofty promises about the structural engineering, quality of bridges, and superior infrastructural development were. "I simply want to know what they are claiming right now. The decision to release the bridge to the public before first assessing its condition has already drawn criticism, Roy said.

Samik Bhattacharya, the state BJP spokesperson for West Bengal, however, rejected the Trinamool Congress leader's criticism. Mamata Banerjee, the state's chief minister and the leader of the Trinamool Congress, would not have compelled the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited to alter the Kolkata East-West Metro's path if the party's leaders and ministers had been so concerned about civil engineering excellence. The homes in the packed Bowbazar region suffered several cracks as a result of this shift in course, leaving the locals there defenceless. There is no doubt that what happened in Gujarat was sad. The local state government will investigate. However, there is no need to make a big deal out of the incident in West Bengal. The failure of the Posta Flyover should not be forgotten, according to Bhattacharya.

He was making reference to the March 31, 2016, collapse of a 490-foot steel span of the Vivekananda Road Flyover in North Kolkata, which resulted in the deaths of 27 persons.

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, has since tweeted her condolences for the loss of life caused by the collapse of the Morbi bridge. "The sad bridge collapse in Morbi, Gujarat, which has claimed a number of innocent lives and stranded many others, worries me greatly. My sincere condolences go out to the departed's loved ones. I wish the injured a fast recovery," she wrote on Twitter.

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