Collapse of a bridge under construction in Kolkata killed 24 and injured over 70 people. It is a relief that hundreds did not die, given the population density in India and especially in Kolkata. Some employees of the company have been charged with murder and others may also face charges. The company constructing the bridge, IVRCL has refused to take any blame, hinting darkly at sabotage. The company owes over Rs 103 billion to a number of banks. The so-called promoter has only 8% equity in IVRCL, which makes him a minority shareholder, so why is he still running the company. It now appears that IVRCL has been blacklisted more than once by government agencies in other states for poor quality work and even death of workers due to negligence. Surely, the Chief Minister would have known about the company's record when she came into office in 2011 and should have terminated its contract. Vijay Mallya, who owes Rs 90 billion to banks, flew out of Delhi Airport with 11 bags and no one saw him. The Enforcement Directorate is now issuing summons after summons for him to appear for questioning. Scary, what? Mallya is not the only one with huge loans, his debt is small compared to what others owe. Mallya is in trouble because he gave personal guarantees to borrow money and he likes to show off his wealth. Couple of years ago rat poison in antibiotics killed 13 women in Chhattisgarh. The doctor was arrested even though he had no means of knowing what the medicines contained. In each case we see some people singled out for blame. Cases drag on for years and after sometime another disaster takes place and people forget the old ones, which drag on through the courts, until eventually they are be thrown out or the accused die of old age. So why waste police time with these charades? Because it allows the real culprits, politicians and civil servants, to avoid blame. People are arrested, journalists write long articles about them, politicians of all parties rush to avail of the photo opportunity, a few hundred thousand rupees of taxpayer money is distributed to grateful families, while the real culprits go unpunished. Surely, it cannot be that bad? Or can it? One MLA of the Trinamul party stopped blood donation by workers of the CPM Party for the victims of the bridge collapse in Kokata because that might earn the CPM votes in this month's elections. Economists are aware of this tendency by politicians to blame a few 'bad apples' so that no blame attaches to them. The difference is that death is taken seriously in other countries. Maybe, because they have fewer people, while we have too many. Excess of people, zero value. Politicians rule.
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