Gujarat observes state-wide mourning to condole loss of lives in Morbi bridge collapse
.Morbi, Gujarat: Repair work on the suspension bridge across the Morbi river that collapsed on Sunday, October 31, was done by contractors not in the least bit qualified to handle that kind of work, the prosecution told a court, a report in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says.
The collapse of the bridge on Sunday evening claimed 135 lives.
Only the bridge flooring was replaced, while the cable remained the same. Unable to bear the additional weight, the bridge collapsed, the prosecution, citing a forensic report, told the magistrate’s court on Tuesday, November 1.
Chief Judicial Magistrate M J Khan remanded four of the arrested accused — two managers of the OREVA Group and two sub-contractors who had repaired the bridge.
The court also remanded five others including security guards and ticket booking clerks, in judicial custody as police did not seek their custody, prosecutor H S Panchal said.
“The weight of the bridge increased due to the four-layered aluminium sheets for the flooring and the cable snapped due to that weight,”
Police had on Monday booked nine persons under Indian Penal Code Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
The four accused remanded in police custody were OREVA managers Dipak Parekh and Dinesh Dave, and repairing contractors Prakash Parmar and Devang Parmar, hired by the OREVA Group.
“Though the FSL report was presented in a sealed cover, it was mentioned during the remand plea that cables of the bridge were not replaced during the renovation and only flooring was changed… Panchal told reporters.
The court was also informed that both the repairing contractors were “not qualified” to carry out such a work.
“Despite that, these contractors were given the bridge repair work in 2007 and then in 2022. So the accused’s custody was needed to find out what was the reason for choosing them and at whose instance they were chosen,” the prosecutor said.
State-wide mourning across Gujarat
Gujarat is observing state-wide mourning on Wednesday to pay homage to the victims of the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy.
Flags were flown at half-mast, an official said, adding that no official or entertainment event would be held on Wednesday.
The decision to observe the state-wide mourning was taken on Monday in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the situation after the tragedy
The Prime Minister had on Tuesday called for a “detailed and extensive” inquiry into the bridge collapse tragedy.
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