In an affidavit submitted to the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday, 16 November, the Morbi municipality said that Oreva Group -- the company tasked with the renovation and maintenance of the suspension cable bridge, which collapsed on 30 October and claimed 135 lives -- reopened the bridge without informing the civic body.
"The company (Oreva group) reopened the suspension bridge for public without letting Morbi Nagar Palika know about the kind of repairing work which was stated to have been carried out by the company as well as without providing any independent third party's certificate/s relating to material testing, structure fitness, holding capacity and fitness, stability of the said suspension bridge," the affidavit accessed by The Quint stated.
'MoU Expired in 2017; New Agreement Signed in 2022'
The civic body submitted the affidavit before a division bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh Shastri which is hearing a suo motu case on the collapse of the bridge.
As per the affidavit, the Oreva group was first entrusted with the task of maintenance, security, and management of the Suspension Bridge in 2007 through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the then Collector of Rajkot and Ajanta Manufacturing Ltd (Oreva Group).
This MoU expired in 2017 but the bridge continued to be managed by the Oreva Group in absence of a new agreement.
After a series of meetings between the Morbi Collectorate, Morbi Nagar Palika and the Oreva Group, a new agreement was signed in March 2022. This agreement entrusted the Oreva Group with the management of the bridge for the next 15 years.
'Oreva Group Flouted Conditions of Agreement'
The civic body in its affidavit, also claimed that the Oreva group reopened the suspension bridge for public without informing the Morbi municipality.
Speaking to The Quint on 31 October, one day after the tragedy, Sandipsinh Zala, former Chief Officer of the Morbi Municipal Corporation, however, accepted that the civic body learnt about the bridge being reopened one day before the collapse.
Zala was later suspended from his post on 4 November.
The municipal body also claimed that due to Diwali holidays there was a huge rush of people on the suspension bridge on the day of collapse.
"The company had issued tickets to many visitors during the entire day, out of which, about more than 300 persons were reported to have been allowed by ticket window operators and security personnel of the company to visit the said bridge around 6.30 pm from both the ends of the bridge, which has been reported to have caused the unfortunate incident of collapse of the said bridge, because of which 135 people lost their lives," the affidavit stated.
Earlier, investigating officer PA Zala, Deputy Superintendent of Morbi Police, told The Quint on 2 November that the security staff and ticket collectors appointed by Oreva were not trained to handle crowds.
"They (security staff and ticket collectors arrested by Morbi Police) said that they weren't informed about how many people can be allowed on the bridge at any given point of time. There were no security equipment at the spot, including life saving guards, life boats, and life jackets," Zala had claimed.
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