The bridge, inbuilt 1986 over the Mahi River between Mujpur and Gambhira villages, had been flagged a number of occasions by native leaders as structurally unsafe, reported TOI. Harshadsinh Parmar, a member of the Vadodara district panchayat from Mujpur, had written to the Roads and Buildings (R&B) division as early as 2021, urging authorities to declare the bridge unfit for visitors and provoke steps to construct a alternative, the TOI report additional said.
In August 2022, Parmar reiterated his considerations, warning that inaction may result in lack of life. He additionally adopted up with additional representations after the Morbi bridge collapse in October 2022, which killed 135 individuals. Regardless of this, no important motion was taken. “There have been vibrations within the pillars. I saved demanding that the inspection report be made public. All we had been advised was that the difficulty was into account,” Parmar mentioned.
Following Parmar's letters, a communication from the Vadodara district collector's workplace was despatched to the manager engineer of the R&B division in 2022, asking for needed steps to be taken. Nevertheless, no public disclosure of the bridge's situation adopted.
Opposite to those considerations, R&B division govt engineer NM Naykawala mentioned after the collapse {that a} departmental report discovered no main faults within the construction. “There was a problem with the bearings, which was addressed final yr,” TOI quoted him as saying.
Was the Gujarat bridge unfit to be used?
Native RTI activist Lakhan Darbar disputed that declare, stating that an inner report had discovered the bridge “unfit to be used” in 2022. “Regardless of repeated calls for, the report was by no means shared with the general public. The authorities let the bridge operate for 3 years understanding it was unsafe,” Darbar mentioned. “Now it has develop into a death-bridge. We're demanding accountability and strict motion.”State authorities spokesperson and minister Rushikesh Patel mentioned the matter was mentioned in Wednesday's cupboard assembly. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has requested the R&B division to clarify the lapse. A crew comprising authorities and personal specialists has visited the location, and an in depth report is awaited.Patel additionally mentioned that the federal government had sanctioned Rs 212 crore for reconstruction of the bridge and the venture was at present on the tendering stage.
(With inputs from TOI)
