One of the culprits in the 135 fatality Gujarat bridge collapse catastrophe said in court that it was “God’s will” that the incident occurred.
The Oreva firm manager, who was in charge of maintaining the 150-year-old bridge, Deepak Parekh, remarked. He is one of the nine persons detained following Sunday’s bridge collapse.
He informed Chief Judicial Magistrate MJ Khan that it was “Bhagwan ki ichcha” (God’s will) that such a regrettable tragedy occurred.
The rope of the bridge was “rusted,” according to Morbi Deputy Superintendent of Police PA Zala, and had not been replaced by the firm that restored it.
On October 26, the bridge was reopened to traffic without any official review or quality control. “Only the platform was altered as part of the maintenance and repair. The wire that supported the bridge wasn’t greased or oiled. The cable was corroded where it had broken. The incident may have been avoided if the wire had been fixed, “The policeman spoke.
According to a prosecutor, the contractors that repaired the bridge were unqualified to maintain public infrastructure.
Despite this, the prosecution claimed, “these contractors were granted the job of repairing the bridge in 2007 and again in 2022.”
The wires snapped because they could not withstand the load since they had not been replaced. The bridge’s weight had increased due to the four-layered aluminum sheets used in the flooring.
Locals have informed NDTV that Oreva’s managing director Jaysukhbhai Patel has not been seen since the disaster, despite having publicly said that the reconstructed bridge will last for at least eight to 10 years. Mr. Patel and his family were last spotted at the bridge’s reopening.
The farmhouse owned by the Oreva firm in Ahmedabad is deserted and closed.
The top executives at Oreva and the Morbi municipal authorities who awarded the business the contract are not mentioned in the police report.
Two subcontractors who had rebuilt the bridge with Deepak Parekh, another manager from the Oreva Group and others were placed in police detention until Saturday. In judicial custody, five other males were detained, including security officers and ticket counter workers.
