In response to the government’s plea to the court about the collapse of the Morbi bridge, which claimed the lives of 135 people, Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi questioned whether it was the will of God or willful fraud. She referenced a report in which Deepak Parekh, a manager for the Oreva company in charge of maintaining the bridge, was quoted as claiming that the terrible tragedy was “God’s will.”
The prosecution on Tuesday told the court that the contractors who carried out repairs of the bridge were not qualified for such a job. It also submitted in the court that while the floor of the bridge was replaced, the cable was not repaired and it could not take the weight of the heavier flooring of four-layers aluminium sheets.
Two managers from the Oreva company and two subcontractors who had rebuilt the bridge made up four of the nine people detained and were placed in police custody. The other five, which included ticket salesmen and security guards, have been placed in judicial custody.
Since it was discovered that the Oreva Group manufactures wall clocks and e-bikes, the responsibilities of the Oreva Group and the local authorities have come under scrutiny. The maintenance of the bridge was committed to this corporation, nonetheless, by the local authorities.
On October 26, the bridge was opened to the public, and the Oreva organisation stated they had hired professionals to fix the bridge. The main officer of the Morbi municipality, Sandipsinh Zala, alleged that the corporate house had not obtained a clearance certificate from the local government before opening the bridge.
Jaysukh Patel is the managing director of Oreva.
“So it was the Will of God the contractor did not repair/replace the rusted cable, the contractors were not qualified engineers, one of the managers overseeing the bridge contract was not an engineer but a media manager in the company. This is wilful fraud, not will of god,” Priyanka Chaturvedi wrote.