Gujarat Morbi bridge collapse: State govt suspends senior official
2 min read . Updated: 04 Nov 2022, 12:27 PM IST
PremiumThe Gujarat government has suspended a senior administrative official in the Morbi bridge collapse incident on Friday
In a first, the Gujarat government suspended a senior administrative official for paying negligence in the maintenance of the Morbi bridge, which collapsed last week killing 135 people.
This is the first suspension of a senior local administration official in the case, reported Reuters quoting CMO's statement.
The one-and-a-half-century-old bridge situated over the Machchhu river collapsed when hundreds of people were enjoying their Diwali and Chhath Puja festival holidays on the location. The unfortunate incident led to the death of more than 130 people.
"The state government has suspended Sandeepsinh Zala, chief officer of Morbi municipality given the bridge collapse," Pankaj Joshi, secretary to Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, told Reuters.
The news agency also tried contacting Sandeepsinh Zala for a statement, but could not reach him as his phone was switched off.
Built originally in 1877, the 33 metres long and 1.25 metres wide bridge was closed for six months for repair work until last week.
Till now, the police have arrested nine people in the incident. Out of the nine arrested people, are ticketing clerks, three on-duty security guards, and contractors behind the repair work of the bridge. These people were arrested for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
In his earlier statement, Sandeepsinh Zala had informed that Oreva, the Gujarat-based company, was responsible for the maintainence work of the bridge. The company did not inform the authorities before reopening the bridge last week. Moreover, the bridge was not even certified by the local authorities for public use after the repair work.
As the incident is an act of sheer negligence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called out for a detailed investigation of the matter and has ordered an inquiry. Notably, Gujarat, where the incident took place, is up for elections in the coming month.
The search operation on the site of the accident was called off on Thursday. However, the local fire brigade, and state, and national disaster teams are kept on standby, said the government in a statement.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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