Chief Minister Mayawati, who visited the spot, blamed the Centre for the incident and asked it to set up a high-level probe. She announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each for medical treatment of those who were injured.

The project is being executed by the NHAI and HCC is constructing it. While HCC Project Director Manish did not attend phone calls, NHAI Project Director N K Jain’s phone was switched off.

It was Vajpayee’s gift to the city
The under-construction flyover, a section of which crashed on Tuesday evening, was a dream project of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who represents Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency. Located at the Polytechnic crossing in Gomti Nagar, the project aimed to decongest the city roads by diverting long-distance traffic from Ring Road to Faizabad and Sultanpur highways. The National Highway Authority was chosen to execute the project and the work on the project had begun in 2002. Vajpayee, along with the then Union Surface Transport Minister B C Khanduri, had come to Lucknow to lay the foundation stone. The project was to be completed in two years. It, however, kept languishing for one reason or another. In 2005, work on the project was stopped following objections from the Mulayam Singh government that said it would displace around 1,000 families. Around six months ago, the Mayawati government gave go ahead to the project after negotiating with the Centre.