Morbi, Feb 19 (PTI) The Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Gujarat government, in its preliminary probe, has found that rusting of about half the wires on the cable and welding of old suspenders with new ones were some of the major lapses that led to the fire last year. There was an accident of collapse of the suspension bridge in Morbi. 135 people had died in the said accident.
These findings are part of the 'Preliminary Report on Morbi Bridge Tragedy' submitted by the five-member SIT in December 2022. The report was recently shared by the State Urban Development Department with Morbi Municipality.
Ajanta Manufacturing Limited (Oreva Group) was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the British-era bridge over the Machhu River. The said bridge had collapsed on October 30 last year. The SIT has found several lapses in the repair, maintenance and operation of the bridge.
IAS officer Rajkumar Beniwal, IPS officer Subhash Trivedi, a secretary and chief engineer of the state road and building department and a professor of structural engineering were the members of the SIT.
The SIT found that one of the two main cables of the bridge over the Machhu river, built by the then rulers in 1887, had corrosion problems and that almost half of its wires may have been 'broken before' the cable snap on the evening of October 30. ' Be.
According to the SIT, the main cable upstream of the river broke, leading to the accident.
The SIT also found that during the renovation work, "the old suspenders (steel rods that connect the cable to the platform deck) were welded with the new suspenders". So the behavior of suspenders changed. Such type of bridges should have single rod suspenders to carry the load.
It may be noted that the Morbi Municipality had awarded the contract for maintenance and operation of the bridge to Oreva Group (Ajanta Manufacturing Limited) without the approval of the General Board. It closed the bridge for renovation in March 2022 and reopened it on 26 October without any prior approval or inspection.
According to the SIT, there were about 300 persons on the bridge at the time of the collapse, a number "far in excess" of the bridge's load-bearing capacity. However, it said that the actual capacity of the bridge would be confirmed by the laboratory report.
The Morbi police has already arrested ten accused including Oreva Group Managing Director Jaisukh Patel under sections 304, 308, 336, 337 and 338 of the Indian Penal Code.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a syndicated news feed, likely not the latest staff changes or edits)
rusty wires and attached suspenders responsible for morbi bridge collapse preliminary sit reportr
