The prosecution in the court on Tuesday put the blame on Oreva, the company which was responsible for the maintenance work. It said the contractors were not qualified for the repair work.
Two bar associations in Gujarat have decided that they won’t represent the accused arrested in connection with the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy, Senior advocate of Morbi Bar Association, AC Prajapati, told news agency ANI that both Morbi Bar Association and Rajkot Bar Association have passed resolutions that their lawyers won’t represent the nine accused of the company Oreva.
The Ahmedabad-based Oreva Group has come on the radar after the bridge collapsed days after it was reopened for the public. While overcrowding was one of the factors, it has now been revealed that the repair work was not done properly. In the court on Tuesday, the prosecution told that while the floor of the bridge was repaired, the cable was not repaired. And hence, the cable snapped under the pressure of the floor. The floor itself became heavier after the repair. In addition, there was crowding on the occasion of Chhath Puja.
Oreva Group’s managing director Jaysukh Patel threw open the bridge for the public on October 26 after the repair work owing to which the bridge was closed for around eight months. Patel informed that Oreva spent ₹2 crore for the renovation roping in experts. And four days later, the bridge collapsed.
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the case including two managers of the Oreva group, two sub-contractors who had repaired the bridge, the security guards and the ticket booking clerks. The managers and the sub-contractors have been sent to police custody, while the rest are in judicial custody.
