At least 141 dead in Morbi bridge collapse; issues with maintenance coming to the fore
At least 141 people died on Sunday when a newly-renovated British-era suspension bridge over the Machchhu river in the city of Morbi in Gujarat collapsed due to overloading. Reportedly, around 500 people were standing on the bridge, popularly called the ‘jhoolta pul’, meant to accommodate just 125 people.
According to the Morbi district website, the bridge, “an engineering marvel built at the turn of the century”, connects the landmarks of Darbargadh Palace and Lakhdhirji Engineering College.
Fingers are being pointed at maintenance issues as the cause for the tragedy, coming just weeks before the Gujarat elections, the dates for which are yet to be announced by the Election Commission of India.
The bridge was reopened on October 26, on the occasion of the Gujarati New Year. According to an NDTV report, while inaugurating, the managing director of the Ahmedabad-based Oreva, the company charged with maintaining the bridge (a 15-year contract was signed with Morbi Municipality in 2022), justified charging money for boarding the bridge as a way “to limit the amount of entry and the crowd”, so as not to “overwhelm the sturdiness of the bridge”.
Yet, that is exactly what happened on Sunday. Tickets costing Rs 17 were sold indiscriminately, leading to the overcrowding of the bridge and the resultant massive pressure on the cables holding up the structure.
The NDTV report also said that the bridge was opened to the public “allegedly without ever securing a fitness certificate from the civic authorities”.
Also, “the company was bound by its contract to keep the bridge shut for at least eight to 12 months for maintenance and repairs”. But Oreva was contracted by Morbi Municipality only in March.
Another issue being talked about, as reported by The Hindu newspaper, is how a company “which specialises in CFL bulbs, wall clocks and e-bikes” could get a contract to “maintain and manage” a bridge. Among other things, Oreva is known for the Ajanta and Orpat brands of wall clocks, and Ajanta CFL bulbs and calculators.
NDTV said it has accessed the contract signed between the municipality and the company, which shows that watchmaker outsourced the “technical aspect of the renovation” to a smaller construction company, Devprakash Solutions.
Hopefully, these and other issues would be taken up during the investigation of the collapse and adequate punishments meted out by the Gujarat government for what was an easily avoidable tragedy.
