Almost a year after the bridge tragedy in Morbi in which over 135 people were killed when a colonial era hanging bridge collapsed, a special investigation team (SIT) of the Gujarat Government has indicted the Oreva Group for “serious operational and technical lapses”.
The report was submitted before the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday.
A local industrial group Oreva was given the contract to repair and renovate the bridge, a tourist attraction, and operate it. They were also responsible for maintenance.
Lackadaisical approach
The lackadaisical approach of the Oreva management resulted in “one of the most severe and tragic human calamities” which cannot be countenanced, the SIT said.
The SIT of senior government officials was constituted by the state government after the tragedy to ascertain the facts and circumstances that led to the tragedy.
“For this, prima facie, the whole management of the company, including its managing director and two managers appear to be responsible,” the probe team stated in its report.
The British-era suspension bridge on the Machchhu river in Morbi collapsed on October 30 last year, killing over 135 people and injuring 56 others.
The Morbi Municipality had given the repair work of the bridge to Oreva company, which in turn had assigned it to a “non-competent agency,” and the work was carried out “without consulting technical experts,” the SIT said.
Technical incompetency
The team after technical and forensic tests also found several design faults in the bridge post-renovation works, contributing to its collapse.
The tragedy was “a result of lapses at administrative level to follow due procedure as per government norms, and also due to technical incompetency to repair the bridge and test it before opening it to the public,” the SIT said in its report submitted before a division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P Mayee, which is hearing a suo motu PIL on the tragedy.
“Various steps taken in carrying out the repair works of the bridge could have been avoided by various better steps had the company taken the help of a professional expert agency in the field,” it said.
Even after completion of the repair work and before opening the bridge to the public at large, the Oreva company ought to have obtained a fitness report and consulted the municipality, which was never done and the bridge was opened to the public without the necessary fitness tests.
Testing of main cables and suspenders was not carried out during renovation, and the main cables were neither inspected nor replaced, according to the probe team.
Dilapidated bridge
After the contract between the Oreva Group and Morbi municipality was renewed , the company failed to take the technical opinion of an expert agency or consult the civic body before giving the contract to one Dev Prakash Solutions to carry out major repair works.
No restrictions were placed on the number of persons accessing the bridge at a given point of time or on sale of tickets, the SIT found in its probe.
According to the Oreva Group, it sent several letters to authorities concerned regarding the dilapidated condition of the bridge after the expiry of the initial MoU it had signed for its maintenance and operation with local authorities.
The company had also requested increase in user charges which was rejected by the authorities and the company was asked to either continue at the same user charges or return possession of the bridge to the civic body.
“However, the company failed to hand over the bridge to authorities concerned and no corrective action could be taken by the company to improve the condition of the bridge,” it said.
“Based on the above observations, it is clear that there were serious operational and technical lapses on the part of Oreva company’s management.”
The SIT has also found lapses on the part of three members of the municipality -- the then president, vice president, and chairman of the executive committee -- as they failed to bring the agreement signed by the company for the management, maintenance and operation of the suspension bridge before the general board, the highest decision making body of the municipality.
A total of 10 people were named as accused and were arrested in the case, including Jaisukh Patel, MD of Oreva group, two managers of his firm and two sub-contractors who had repaired the bridge, three security guards and two ticket booking clerks.
