Morbi, Gujarat: The recent bridge collapse incident in Gujarat’s Morbi has claimed many lives. While the rescue operation is still on at the accident site, the former Gujarat deputy CM Nitin Patel has refused to take any blame for the mishap. He said that the renovation work was done by the Morbi Municipality in which the govt had no role to play whether direct or indirect.
“Renovation and opening of the bridge were done by Morbi admin. Gujarat govt didn’t have any role in it, direct or indirect. The old bridge was small and made for private use, but was opened to the public for tourist movement”, said Nitin Patel. He further added, “Oreva is an old company for repairing watches but only Morbi municipality knows on which qualification it handed over the work of bridge renovation.”
However, he has appealed to the people of Gujarat to stand strong in these testing times and has also assured them of proper investigation and inquiry about the incident. “It might take some time since a thorough investigation will be required, but the state government would take action once it receives the report. 9 people responsible for the collapse of the Morbi bridge have been arrested, and actions will be taken against them by the government”, Nitin Patel said regarding the incident.
Notably, almost 134 people died in the bridge collapse incident and many others are critically injured. PM Narendra Modi is all set to visit Morbi today to inspect the situation. Expressing grief about the incident, the IG of the Rajkot range, Ashok Yadav said, “We arrested nine people after filing FIR under various sections of IPC. The arrested include the managers of Oreva company and ticket clerks. As and when we get evidence, police will nab the accused further. We have also formed a Special Investigation team pertaining to the incident.” He further assured them that the police will take all necessary actions to help the victims furthermore.