Morbi bridge collapse: FIR alleges negligence, lapses in repair work

The death toll in the suspension bridge collapse on Machchhu river in Morbi town in Gujarat reached 132 by Monday morning. The victims included children, women and elderly people who were walking on the century-old bridge. The collapse of the bridge on Sunday evening, resulted in one of the biggest tragedies the state witnessed in recent times.

The local police registered an FIR last night against an unnamed private agency responsible for the maintenance and management of the bridge, popularly known as "jhulto pul". The FIR doesn't name the firm or its officials but states that the bridge collapsed either due to "lack of proper repair work, maintenance and management, some technical error and some other reasons." At the time of lodgement of FIR, 50 people were reported to be killed, while the number of injured was over 150.

The FIR has been registered under sections 304 and 308 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 114 (abetment) of Indian Penal Code. It states that in "gross negligence and carelessness" the responsible agency opened the bridge for the purpose of tourism despite "knowing that it could endanger common people."

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FIR mentions that the bridge of Machchhu river is a tourist attraction which was built by the erstwhile Morbi State back in 1887. It says that "at different periods of times, different administrations awarded the contract of its repair work, maintenance and management to private agencies and opened it for locals for their well-being and enjoyment."

According to the FIR, about eight months ago the bridge was closed for the public by the private agency (Oreva) for maintenance work and on October 26, it was reopened. The FIR notes that a lot of people had thronged the bridge for tourism purposes due to Diwali vacation.

The FIR is based on a written complaint filed by Prakash Dekavadkiya, police sub-inspector, Morbi city 'D' division police station. He has stated that "In gross negligence, carelessness and without conducting quality checks, producing paperwork (fitness certificate) the person/agencies responsible for repair work, maintenance and management opened the bridge for the public."

Minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi said that a total of 132 people have been killed while rescue work is still going on. The number is likely to increase. Nearly 170 people have been rescued and a majority of them have been discharged from different hospitals. Army, Navy, NDRF and SDRF teams are searching for the missing persons.