Nearly three months after the Morbi suspension bridge collapse which left 135 dead and several others injured, the Gujarat government issued a show-cause notice to the Morbi civic body, Wednesday. The notice, issued by the state urban development department questions the relevance of the civic body’s existence when “it had clearly failed discharging basic duties.”
In its letter, the government has hauled the Morbi Municipal Corporation for turning a blind eye to repeated letters written by the Oreva Group, which was contracted to operate and maintain the bridge, warning about its dilapidated condition and signalling a catastrophe about to unfold.
Available facts and records point to the operations contract for the suspension bridge having ended March 2017. For its part, the Oreva Group submitted documents and letters of correspondence with the civic body during the January 2018-January 2020 time frame, “warning of grave consequences if immediate repairs are not undertaken.”
However, it is now amply clear that the municipality did not heed to the warnings, the notice observed.
The UDD notice relied on findings by a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the tragic incident on the night of October 30, with a majority of the 135 victims having drowned in the Machchhu River. The Morbi civic body has 52 members, all from BJP. The letter follows the Gujarat HC’s suo moto questioning the state government as to why no action was taken against the municipality under Section 236 of the Gujarat Municipalities Act for dereliction of duty.
Meanwhile, 48 councillors from Morbi approached the court requesting it not to pass any direction against them without a hearing. The Morbi Nagarpalika has been given time till January 25 to submit its written clarification only after a general body resolution is arrived upon. The court also specifically questioned the SIT findings which stated that the civic body’s chief officer signed an agreement with the Oreva Group to hike ticket rates, even as the general body had earlier rejected the proposal to hike the same.
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