New Delhi: The special investigation team (SIT) appointed by the Gujarat government to probe the Morbi bridge collapse said in its final report that administrative lapses and mismanagement by a company contracted to maintain the bridge were responsible for the incident almost a year ago.
“The incident is a result of lapses at administrative level to follow due procedure as per government norms, and also due to technical incompetency [sic] to repair the bridge and test it before opening it to the public.” the SIT’s report read according to Deccan Herald.
It also said that “… prima facie, the whole management of the [contractor] company, including its managing director and two managers appear to be responsible,” PTI reported.
The company in question is the Oreva group, which is primarily known for manufacturing clocks but also makes lighting products and home appliances.
The SIT noted that after the Morbi municipality renewed Oreva’s contract to maintain the 140-year-old bridge, Oreva had outsourced repair work to a “non-competent agency”.
This repair work was carried out “without consulting technical experts”, it added according to PTI.
Laid over the Machhu River close to western Gujarat’s Morbi town, the bridge collapsed in October 2022 just four days after it was reopened after repairs.
One hundred and forty one people died and dozens of others were injured as a result of the collapse.
As for the administrative lapses behind the incident, the SIT said that three members of the Morbi municipality – which was swept by the BJP in 2021 – failed to bring the agreement signed between Oreva and the municipality before the latter’s general board, PTI reported.
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An interim report filed by the SIT in December last year held the municipality’s chief administrator Sandeepsinh Zala responsible for signing the contract with Oreva despite the civic body’s general body not having passed a resolution on the matter, India Today reported.
It added that a ‘work commissioning letter’ was signed by the municipality’s president, vice president and executive committee chairman.
Morbi’s municipality gave the repair contract to Oreva in March 2022.
The SIT also said in its interim report that the bridge collapsed as one of its two main cables had snapped, adding that nearly half of this cable’s wires may have broken before the bridge failed.
“It was observed that out of the 49 wires (of that cable), 22 were corroded, which indicates that those wires may have already broken before the incident. The remaining 27 wires recently broke,” the December report said according to PTI.
Additionally, the vertical suspenders that supported the bridge were incorrectly repaired, the SIT noted.
“… Old suspenders (steel rods which connect the cable with the platform deck) were welded with the new suspenders. Hence the behaviour of suspenders changed. In these types of bridges, single rod suspenders should be used to bear the load,” it said.
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In a hearing on the matter on Tuesday, the Gujarat high court – which took suo motu cognisance of the matter in November last year – asked for Oreva to be “blacklisted”.
“Why don’t you [blacklist] the contractor? Else they will volunteer somewhere else. This is very strange that they volunteered in a public activity,” chief justice Sunita Agarwal said according to Bar and Bench.
The high court also told Oreva to consider providing jobs to women who lost their husbands due to the incident, Bar and Bench‘s report said.
In late January this year, Morbi police filed its chargesheet in the bridge collapse case, naming Oreva managing director Jaysukh Patel and nine others as accused.
Patel is the main accused in the case and is currently in jail.
Two of the other accused, Dipak Parekh and Dinesh Dave, were managers at Oreva who were reportedly tasked with “supervising” the work of contractors.
However, Parekh handled graphic design and media management and Dave managed the company’s clock division – neither had any technical expertise in the matter.
And in April this year, the Gujarat government dissolved the Morbi municipality due to its “failure” to discharge its duties among other reasons, the Hindustan Times reported.
