Bridge collapses in Gujarat’s Morbi
Tragic Death of More Than 130 People in The Accident
In Gujarat’s Morbi city, a major accident occurred after the bridge built on the Machhu river collapsed on Sunday. So far more than 130 people have died in this accident. Many people are still said to be missing. A large number of people were present on the bridge at the time of the accident. There is mourning in hundreds of families and hundreds of families are praying for their well being. Somebody lost a child in the accident, some life partner. In someone’s womb, the grave of his son became. Someone’s own sank before his eyes. Somewhere left alone in an innocent family, many meanings arose simultaneously from someone’s house. 70 people have been injured in this accident, who are being treated in the hospital. On the other hand, more than 50 people are still said to be missing, for which teams of Police, Army, Navy, Air Force, NDRF, Fire Brigade, SDRF are engaged to find them.
After the collapse of the bridge, many questions are being raised that how did the Morbi bridge fall? Is there any big conspiracy behind the Morbi bridge accident? During the Morbi bridge accident, the huge crowd became the reason? Who is responsible in this accident? After the accident, many questions have arisen. Whose answer can hardly be found. But it is true that this Morbi bridge accident has left many families with lifelong wounds. These wounds can never be filled. Gujarat’s Morbi Bridge, which is nearly a century old, was recently reopened to the public five days ago after being overhauled. In March, Morbi-based Oreva Group (Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt Ltd), which also manufactures e-bikes. This company was given the contract of maintenance and management of the bridge by the municipality.
The suspension bridge (known as the swinging pool) on the Machhu river in Gujarat was opened on 26 October itself. The information that came out after this tragic accident shows that this bridge has not got the fitness certificate from Morbi Municipality and was reopened for tourists on 26 October (Gujarati New Year’s Day). The repair work of Gujarat’s Morbi bridge went on for 6 months, about Rs 2 crore was spent on the repair of the bridge. The maintenance of this bridge is currently with Odhavji Patel-owned Orewa Group. This group had made an agreement with Morbi Municipality for 15 years from March 2022 to March 2037, on the basis of this agreement, the Orewa Group has all the responsibility of maintenance, cleaning, safety and toll collection of this bridge. Surprisingly, this bridge was reopened on 26 October without anyone’s permission and the bridge became the cause of hundreds of deaths on 30 October. Morbi municipality officials told the media that the company Oreva had not obtained the fitness certificate before opening the bridge. The fitness certificate of this bridge was yet to be checked by the three agencies of the government.
Jindal Group had given a guarantee of 25 years for this bridge. Jai Sukhbhai Patel had inaugurated this bridge at the hands of his granddaughter on Diwali. Although 100 people were allowed to climb the bridge simultaneously, but 500-700 people were present on the bridge at the time of the accident. At that time the bridge of Morbi could not bear such a burden. Due to the huge crowd, the bridge collapsed and fell into the river and everyone present on the bridge fell into the river. There was an atmosphere of screaming everywhere. Due to the collapse of the bridge, many people died after falling on top of each other. Those who knew how to swim somehow survived. Most of the people drowned in deep water. After the bridge collapsed, many people got stuck in the middle. A large number of people have lost their lives in the accident. Pictures and videos of the accident are coming out in social media which are heartbreaking. The Gujarat government has given the responsibility of investigating the accident to the SIT. Police-administration, army teams, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indian Air Force personnel are engaged in the rescue operation on the spot. A search is still on for those trapped among the rubble.
The Chief Minister of Gujarat had constituted a high power committee yesterday itself after the accident. All the officers posted at various places have been asked to report the Morbi bridge accident at the earliest. Several officers led by the Range IGP are investigating the accident. A criminal case has been registered. According to Mohan Kundaria, BJP MP from Rajkot, the incident has been taken seriously. All kinds of rescue work is going on. It has been told that children, women and old people are more among the dead bodies recovered so far. Morbi district administration has issued a helpline number- 02822 243300 for the families of the victims of the accident. Due to all this many people are still missing. After the accident, the family members of the missing people are doing rounds of the incident site and the hospital with their photographs in their hands. The pain of the families of those killed in the accident is not being seen. There are many families in which more than one person has been killed in an accident. A large number of people of Morbi area have also lost their lives in this accident.
The families who lost their loved ones in the Morbi bridge accident are sad. The eyewitnesses who saved some people drowning in the river at the time of the accident also say that they will not be able to forget this painful accident for life. According to an eyewitness at the time of the accident, when they saw the bridge broken, they immediately ran and were able to save 8 lives. The older people came out with the help of the rope of the bridge, but the younger children could not get out of the river. NDRF Commandant VVN Prasanna Kumar, engaged in the rescue, also said in the media that we have seen so many deaths for the first time. Often this happens when a boat capsizes. In this accident, 6 members of the family of a woman named Halimaben became victims of the accident in front of her eyes. Similarly, Rupesh of Jaliya Devani village had gone to see the bridge with his wife and three children. In the accident, Rupesh escaped by catching the cable of the bridge, while the wife went to search for her three children but lost her life by drowning in the mud. In this accident, wife and three children died in front of Rupesh. Hardik Faldu, who lives in Morbi, had gone for a walk on Sunday evening with wife Miral and four-year-old son Jiansh. The three reached the bridge at around 6 pm and the bridge broke shortly after. After that all three fell into the river. Hardik and wife Miral died in the accident. But someone saved the drowning Jiansh. Jiansh’s life was saved in this accident, but now his parents’ shadow was no more on his head.
