In a case of what is being perceived as blatant discrimination and injustice to the deceased, the Gujarat Government is yet to initiate any criminal action against a powerful industrial group. Three days after bodies of five workers of a hydro power plant in Mahisagar district were fished out, the police are yet to make arrests in the case. The hydro power plant belongs to Ajanta Energy Private Limited.
AEPL is part of Ajanta-Oreva Group of Companies that is headed by Jaysukh Patel. The Group has been in the news in the last couple of years for all the wrong reasons. This is the group that was responsible for the Morbi bridge collapse. Jaysukh Patel is right now on bail.
According to information, the company has a revenue of Rs 800 crore and has around 5,000 employees. It specialises in making clocks, home appliances, e-bikes, television and calculators among other things.
Over a century-old hanging bridge, operated by the Group, in Morbi collapsed on October 30, 2022 resulting in the death of 141 persons.
It was a holiday and people were enjoying vacation during Diwali when the tragic incident took place. The bridge was just re-opened after repairs. Tickets were distributed from the either sides of the bridge without looking into the load bearing capacity of the bridge.
The Morbi Municipality that had given the contract to maintain and run the bridge to the company had claimed that it was not aware that the bridge was reopened.
The initial FIR did not mention any names. Thereafter, names were added but Patel’s name was added much later.
He continued to remain at large and could be arrested only after three months. In March 2024, he walked out of the jail after the Supreme Court granted him bail.
In the incident that occurred in Mahisagar, an FIR has been registered but it has no names. The charges are of causing death by negligence. The incident occurred on September 4.
Water had gushed into the powerhouse of the 12 MW run-of-the-river hydro power plant situated in the Dolatpura Weir of Kadana Dam.
Mahisagar District Superintendent of Police Safin Hasan was quoted in the media saying that based on the complaint filed by the kin of one of the deceased workers, an FIR has been lodged against AEPL for “causing death by negligence” under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita.
He was further quoted saying that the FIR is for causing death by negligence as the allegation is that the dam authorities had informed the power plant that the big cache of water would be released and the workers should not have been there at that time. Further probe into the matter will be undertaken, he had added.
The water was released from Kadana dam.
Hasan told Vibes of India, “We have called for the documents from the irrigation department, company ad contractors to find out the liability of various stake holders”. The police are also checking the records of water release ad information shared.
The police is also investigating into the claims of the contract being given to a sub-contractor.
The AEPL was quick to announce compensation for the kin of the deceased. In a letter to the Mahisagar District Collector it announced the compensation.
The deceased have been identified as Narendra Solanki, Shailesh Raiji Macchi, Shailesh Raman Macchi, and Arvind Damor. Kadana-resident Bharat Akhma Padariya was the last to be found late Saturday evening, about 55 hours later. Narendra Solanki’s body was recovered on Friday evening while the other bodies were found in the early hours of Saturday.
A battalion of 30 personnel of the Gandhinagar NDRF, along with 45 SDRF personnel and eight fire officers had been deployed on the site to search for the missing person. The NDRF had also deployed scuba divers and underwater cameras to track down the trapped bodies.
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