Tent collapse: BJP to file police complaint against state PWD

The West Bengal BJP today said it will to file a police complaint against the state Public Works Department for alleged "negligence in duty" during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally at Midnapore, where a makeshift tent collapse injured 90 people on Monday.

The party's decision came a day after the police filed a case against the organiser of the rally - the West Bengal BJP unit - and a decorator who erected the tent at the venue of Modi's rally for "extreme negligence of duty".

"We have decided to file a police complaint against the state PWD for their negligence in duty during the prime minister's rally in Midnapore. It is due to their slack attitude that the mishap occurred," BJP state vice-president Subhas Sarkar told PTI.

He said PWD engineers were present when the tent was being erected and wondered what they were doing when it collapsed.

"The police also failed to control the mob. When the tent collapsed, the policemen did nothing. It was the BJP workers who rescued the supporters," Sarkar said.

Sarkar alleged that the police baton-charged BJP activists at the venue to control them and that led to the accident.

"The police could have controlled the crowd in a proper way. Instead, they resorted to baton charge which resulted in many BJP supporters climbing the makeshift marquee and it collapsed," he claimed.

The Centre has sought a report from the state government on the incident and a high-level central team is currently in Midnapore to assess the circumstances that led to the accident.

The team will examine whether there was any lapse in security measures, lack of coordination among various agencies or other shortcomings in organising the rally.

Initial investigations have revealed that some of the iron frames used for setting up the makeshift tent were rusty, and most of the iron poles were not inserted in the ground properly, a senior police officer said.

It has also been found that some of the CCTVs installed at the venue were not working properly.