FIR signals faceoff, mars bid to shield Mittal

LUCKNOW: By shifting blame onto the district administration for not diverting traffic when the flyover crashed in Varanasi, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya made it clear he was not in favour of action against the UP

Bridge Corporation

brass.


The flyover was being constructed by the corporation, which is chaired by Maurya himself and the managing director is

Rajan Mittal

, who was embroiled in controversy during the Akhilesh Yadav regime and was eventually sacked. However, Maurya found merit in Mittal and re-instated him after BJP stormed to power.

But lodging of an FIR against Bridge Corporation by Varanasi police points to a likely face-off between the chief minister and his deputy. A similar incident had taken place in Unchahar in Rae Bareli, last year where a boiler in ash furnace exploded, claiming at least 36 lives, but no FIR was registered against NTPC.

While the corporation was booked by the district administration, the deputy chief minister was stout in its defence and both sides are slapping documents and letters against each other to save their skin.

The chief minister is learnt to be unhappy over the manner in which Maurya gave Mittal dual charge of Bridge Corporation and Rajkiya Nirman Nigam. It’s alleged that Mittal was close to the Samajwadi Party government till he was removed from his position. Mittal was posted for nearly three years in

Etawah

, native village of then ruling

Yadav

family. In a press statement, Mittal tried to play down negligence of his department by saying the recent thunderstorm could have disturbed locks in the beams which triggered collapse of the flyover. Ironically, Maurya had arbitrarily removed Vishwadeep from the MD post of UPBC last month. So far, he has not taken up his new posting as MD of Uttar Pradesh State Highway Authority (UPSHA) as he was apparently feeling let down by Maurya. Vishwadeep was removed to make way for Mittal.