Morbi Bridge collapse: Municipality was found guilty, HC directed to Audit all such bridges

The Morbi municipality was found guilty of dereliction of duty for allowing a pedestrian bridge to open and become overcrowded, resulting in the deaths of 141 people when it collapsed, the Gujarat high court ruled on Thursday.

The court, which was hearing the case after starting proceedings on its own (or suo motu), also noted that the compensation to the victims’ families was “abysmally low,” and ordered the state to conduct an audit of all such bridges throughout the state.

The court chastised Morbi municipality’s chief officer SV Zala for how the bridge was managed in a series of harsh observations. “The tone of the letter sent by the Nagar Palika to Ajanta (the company that operated and repaired the bridge) on January 19, 2021, would suggest that the same (civic body) is more concerned with ticket prices than with the bridge’s condition.” In other words, as of January 2021, the Nagar Palika appears to have ignored the M/s Ajanta’s warning about the bridge’s condition…,” the bench observed.

“At the very least, he should have faced dereliction of duty charges…

“You do it on your own, or we will issue directions,” it told senior advocate Kamal Trivedi, who was representing the Gujarat government.