TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Authority India filed a murder complaint on Monday, October 31, 2022 against the operator of the suspension bridge and arrested nine people. It was after at least 134 people had died when bridge The recently renovated Morbi has collapsed.
The incident saw hundreds of tourists fall into the Machchhu River in Gujarat state.
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The nine people arrested are the manager of Oreva, a company renovating the bridge, a collector, a bridge repair contractor and three security officers in charge of crowd control.
Gujarat-based Oreva has been accused of breaching several safety rules, leading to a major tragedy just four days after the bridge reopened to the public. However, none of the company’s top brass have been arrested.
“We won’t let the culprits get away, we won’t spare anyone,” said Morbi police chief Ashok Yadav, as reported by the news agency. NDTV.
Contractor Oreva, a major manufacturer known for producing clocks and e-bikes, completed a six-month bridge renovation last Friday ahead of Gujarati New Year celebrations. “The bridge has been reopened to tourists without first obtaining permission from the government,” city official Sandeepsinh Zala told reporters. Indian Express.
Immediately after signing a 15-year contract with civil agency Morbi, Oreva reportedly subcontracted the “technical aspects of the bridge renovation” to a small firm with an unknown record, Devprakash Solutions.
The company is under contract to close the bridge for at least eight to 12 months for maintenance and repairs. “It was a very irresponsible and reckless act to open the bridge last week,” police said on condition of anonymity.
Zala also criticized bridge operators for selling as many tickets as possible without controlling the flow of people. Tickets were sold to nearly 500 people, officials said, leading to overcrowding on the suspension bridge and causing old wire ropes to come loose.
Hundreds of people on the bridge seen in CCTV footage can only accommodate around 125 people.
When the bridge reopened last week, Oreva chief executive Jaysukhbhai Patel told reporters the company had completed a 100% renovation. He also claims that the renovated bridge will last eight to ten years.
Press Agency PTI citing an Oreva spokesperson who blamed visitors for the bridge collapse. “Too many people in the middle of the bridge trying to swing from one direction to another.”
In India, a series of public safety accidents have occurred due to poor construction. In 2019, a pedestrian bridge near Mumbai’s historic Chhatrapati Shivaji railway terminal building was damaged, killing six people. In 2011, more than 30 festival-goers died when a bridge near the Himalayan town of Darjeeling collapsed.
Read also: There are 132 victims of the collapsed bridge, the Indian government is looking for missing victims
NDTV | INDIA EXPRESS
