Gujarat mishap: 9 arrested including staff of firm that renovated bridge, FIR against Oreva over 'callous approach'

An FIR has been registered on charges of culplable homicide against agencies who were given the contract of repairing and renovating the century-old bridge in Gujarat’s Morbi that collapsed on Sunday evening, claiming over 130 lives. Following the FIR, nine people have been arrested which include managers of Oreva, the company that renovated the bridge, ticket collectors, bridge repair contractors and three security guards whose job was to control the crowds.

Morbi Municipality’s chief officer Sandeepsinh Zala said the city-based Oreva Group was given the contract for the renovation and operation of the bridge. Some people have also been called for preliminary questioning.

As per the FIR, the incident took place because of the “callous approach” of the agency people. The FIR also stated that persons concerned or agencies did not pay attention to the quality of the maintenance as well as repair work of the bridge. 

The bridge was opened for tourists by the agency despite knowing that their "callous approach" in the maintenance and management of the bridge may lead to human deaths, the FIR stated.

Citing gross negligence and mismanagement, officers at B-division Morbi city police station lodged a first information report (FIR) over the incident.  The FIR has named “the agency responsible for maintaining the bridge” and the “management agency” as accused, without naming the company in-charge of maintenance and repair or specific individuals, under IPC sections 304 and 308 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), officers said.

Zala had made a shocking revelation on Sunday as he said that bridge, closed for nearly seven months for repair and renovation, was reopened for the public without a fitness certificate. 

The civic official said: “For a long period, this bridge was closed for the public... seven months ago, a private company was given contract for renovation and maintenance, and the bridge was reopened for the public on October 26 (Gujarati New year day) by the private company. The Nagar Palika has not issued a fitness certificate.”

He even claimed that it is possible that the company might have got a fitness certificate from the engineering company, but it was not submitted to the municipality till date. The company, on its own and without informing the civic body, reopened the bridge for the public, he alleged.

Former Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel also told the media that normally when bridges are constructed or renovated, before opening it for public, technical assessment is must, and load bearing capacity is tested and only after this is a usage certificate issued by the authority concerned and the bridges can only then be opened for the public.

The bridge was first inaugurated on February 20, 1879, by Mumbai governor Richard Temple. It was completed in 1880 at the cost of around Rs 3.5 lakh back then. All the material came from England and it was built to connect Darbargarh to Nazarbagh.

This hanging pool connected the seat of Mahaprabhuji and the entire Samakantha area. This suspension bridge is over 140 years old and its length is about 765 feet. 

Horrific viral videos of the mishap show people in huge numbers flocking the bridge, which was reopened on October 26 after remaining closed for seven months, and shaking it vigorously for fun. Reports suggest that 400-500 were on the bridge when it snapped while over 200 fell into the river.