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Gujarat high court notice to Oreva group’s Ajanta over Morbi tragedy
A resident of Ahmedabad who lost his brother and sister-in-law in the tragedy petitioned the court against the Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt Ltd which was contracted to renovate and maintain the bridge
The Gujarat high court on Wednesday issued notice to Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt Ltd of the Oreva group in connection to the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy on October 30 in which 135 people lost their lives. The firm was awarded work for maintenance, repair and operation of the British era footbridge over the Machchu river by the Morbi municipality.
A bench of chief justice Aravind Kumar and justice Ashutosh Shastri told the company to file its response by January 19, the next date for the hearing. The order was issued following a request by Dilipbhai Chavada of Ahmedabad who lost his brother and sister-in-law in the tragedy, who underlined that the Ajanta-Oreva group should be made a party and ordered to pay compensation since it was given the contract by the civic authority. It also alleged that there were technical and procedural lapses in the agreement signed between Morbi municipality and the Oreva group.
A preliminary report of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Gujarat government to investigate the bridge collapse was also submitted to the court at a previous hearing.
In its order of December 12, the high court noted that the SIT report disclosed that out of a total of 49 wires that were clubbed together in 7 strands to form cable, “22 were corroded which would indicate that those wires were already broken before the incident. The remaining 27 wires are said to have recently broken. It would also indicate that no load test or structural test was conducted before permitting that opening of the bridge and repair work was completed on October 25 and bridge was opened on October 26”.
The bridge was re-opened on October 26 by Oreva Group promoter Jaysukh Patel and his family after it was closed for maintenance and repairs for about seven months.
An FIR filed by the police at Morbi ‘B’ division police station on October 31 does not name Oreva and its promoters. It has shown “agencies responsible for maintenance and management of the hanging bridge” as the main accused, along with others whose names emerged during the course of investigation.
Police arrested nine people, including two ticket-booking clerks, three security guards, two Oreva group managers and two private contractors hired for the repair and renovation of the bridge. The state government has suspended Sandipsinh Zala, the then chief officer of the Morbi municipality, who signed the MoU with the private firm.
