Gujarat bridge collapse: Private company entrusted with upkeep, deal barred govt interference

MORBI: The contract signed between the Morbi civic body and Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt Ltd for maintenance, renovation and upkeep of the colonial-era bridge has raised eyebrows.
While government officials have been squarely blaming the private contractor for the tragedy, one of the clauses in the contract states that there will be no interference from the government or state agencies in maintenance or administrative tasks assigned to the contractor.

The chief officer of Morbi municipality has signed a 15-year contract with the private company. The contract is valid till March 2037.
“The income and expenditure of the suspension bridge will be managed by Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited (Oreva Group). Along with that, all the administrative functions, including appointment of staff, ticket booking, collection, maintenance and cleaning, and accounts of all the expenditures and other work will be managed by Oreva Group only. No other agency, whether government or non-government, will interfere,” reads the seventh and last clause of the agreement.
The contractor also violated the first clause, pertaining to the ticket rates. According to the clause, tickets were priced at Rs 15 for adults and Rs 10 for children up to 12 years of age. The rates were to be revised to Rs 17 and Rs 12 for adults and kids, respectively, for 2023-24. However, the contractor had been recovering Rs 17 from adults since October 26, 2022.

Oreva was given the liberty to increase the ticket rates for adults by Rs 2 every year from 2025. According to the contract signed in March, the company was bound to keep the bridge shut for eight to 12 months for maintenance and repairs.
While announcing the reopening of the historic hanging bridge after six months of “full and final” renovation, Jaysukh Patel, chairman of Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt Ltd, part of the Morbi-based Oreva Group, had claimed on October 24 that the structure would easily stand for another 15 years if people used it responsibly.

But it collapsed within just five days of opening on October 26.
Patel said renovation was subcontracted by his company to a Dhrangadhra-based firm, DevPrakash Solutions, which had repaired this bridge when it was damaged in the 2001 earthquake.
“We had placed orders for specialised equipment, with modified technical specifications required for a hanging bridge, with companies like Jindal. Our company has been given a 15-year contract for maintenance, operation and security of the bridge,” he had said.

Patel had said that they would charge an entry fee to ensure that the bridge did not get crowded.
The promoters and top executives of the group have been incommunicado ever since the bridge collapsed Sunday evening. Neither Jaysukh Patel, CMD of the Morbi-based Oreva Group, nor any of the executives of the group, have come forward to speak about the incident.

TOI tried to contact Patel and senior officials multiple times but all calls went unanswered. An industrialist in the Morbi ceramic cluster said, “There is no contact with the Patel family since Sunday evening. We believe the family is not in Morbi as of now.”
An Ahmedabad-based partner of Jaysukh Patel said, “We, too, are trying to contact him but he is not available. We have not been able to contact any of his family members either.”