More than 140 people were killed when a nearly 150-year-old bridge in Morbi, Gujarat, collapsed yesterday. The repairs, which were made “with updated technical standards,” according to the private business that made them, should last for at least another eight to ten years. At a press briefing on October 24, a spokesperson from the Oreva group had stated, “No doubt about it,” days before the bridge’s formal reopening after a seven-month repair.
He claimed that the bridge’s “100%” refurbishment cost merely two crores.
In response to queries from local reporters, Deepak Parekh responded in Gujarati, “As we know, the bridge was made during a time when there was not much technical innovation, and initially, only wooden planks and beams were used to make the bridge. They had sent the requirements to companies (like Jindal) and, according to the requirements and technical specifications, got the raw materials.
Mr. Parekh went on to say that the admission price was necessary to control crowd size and admittance. He added that we also don’t want to overtax the bridge’s strength.
“With the support of the Collector and the President of the Morbi Municipal Corporation, I don’t remember the exact agreement, but we’ll be revising the entry fees by one to two rupees every year for the next seven years,” he said. “We’ll be giving them discounts for students and those coming in big groups.”
According to him, Devang Prakash, a division of a business named Dev Prakash Solutions, was given a portion of the refurbishment project by Oreva since they were in charge of some of the repairs made following the 2007 earthquake.
According to Mr. Parekh, his business will be in charge of management and maintenance. At the same time, a company with its headquarters in Ahmedabad named Dev Prakash Solutions has been tasked with installing the lights.
The firm had intended to keep the bridge available to the public until six or 6:30 pm, but once the lighting work was finished, they would extend the hours until later in the night for evening strolls. According to the demand of the people, “We might open it in the night for around 2 hours,” he stated.
