Bridge tragedy: Gujarat govt supersedes Morbi civic body

GANDHINAGAR/RAJKOT: More than five months after the suspension bridge collapse killed 135 people in Morbi, the Gujarat government on Tuesday superseded the 52-member municipality, which has been accused of turning a blind eye to warnings that the rickety, British-era structure was a disaster waiting to happen.
However, additional resident collector Narendra Muchhal, the chief officer of the municipality, will continue to hold the charge. Senior urban development department officials confirmed the development.
After Gujarat high court's stinging questions in a suo motu action last December, the state government had on January 18 issued a show-cause notice to the civic body, asking why it should not be superseded for completely failing to discharge its basic duties.
The notice cited from the report of a three-member special investigation team (SIT), which had pointed out the extremely shoddy repair work of the bridge and its cables, carried out by a company subcontracted by Oreva Group, which was responsible for the bridge's operation and maintenance.
The notice stated that the civic body had failed to take any concrete steps for repair or maintenance of the bridge despite several meetings between government officials and stakeholders, after the Oreva Group's contract expired in 2017.
The civic body had turned a blind eye to the repeated letters written by the Oreva Group, warning about the dilapidated condition of the suspension bridge. "After the earlier operations contract for the suspension bridge ended in March 2017, the Oreva Group made it clear through several letters to the municipality between January 13, 2018, and January 9, 2020, that the bridge's condition was extremely dilapidated.," the show-cause notice stated.
After the earlier operations contract for the suspension bridge ended in March 2017, Oreva Group made it clear through several letters to the municipality between January 13, 2018, and January 9, 2020, that the bridge's condition was extremely dilapidated and that it should be immediately closed and repairs should be carried out. If kept open, there can be a serious accident and loss of lives," the notice stated. However, it's amply clear that the municipality did not take these warnings seriously," the show-cause notice had stated.
The councillors, all from BJP, had desperately tried to stave off superseding by first shooting a letter to chief minister Bhupendra Patel and some of them moving the high court on the grounds that they were completely in the dark about the contract signed between the municipality and Oreva Group.
The police have arrested 10 people including Oreva Group managing director Jaysukh Patel and filed a chargesheet against them. They have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.