Five kilometres from their home was the four-decade-old #Mujpur-Ghambira bridge, which had repeatedly been flagged as structurally unsafe by the residents of #Vadodara.
A trembling Sonal recollects the moments they drove over the bridge and part of it gave method. “I used to be sitting within the rear seat,” she says. “When we have been on the bridge, the automotive immediately plunged into the Mahisagar river under. After we hit the water, I by some means managed to smash the rear windshield and get out. I stood on prime of the sinking automotive and clutched some cables that have been dangling from the bridge. I held onto them and screamed for assist for practically two hours.”
Sonal was the one member of the family to outlive the incident. The tragedy, which the #Gujarat authorities mentioned occurred owing to structural failure, claimed 20 lives and left 4 injured. One particular person stays lacking.
Sitting on the ground of a relative’s home with one bandaged arm and a bruised brow and legs, Sonal says she screamed, “Bachao! Maro dikro doobi gayo, maro gharwalo doobi gayo (Save me! My son has drowned; my husband has drowned)”. Bystanders on the riverbank and the remaining portion of the bridge recorded movies of her, however nobody got here to her rescue. A video exhibiting her pleading with onlookers to avoid wasting her household went viral on-line.
Sonal is grief-stricken and likewise nervous. As Ramesh was the only breadwinner of the household, she says she is going to now should determine a method of offering for her three remaining daughters and ageing in-laws. Pulling her ghunghat (head masking) over her head, she cries remembering how assist arrived late. “By then the river had nothing to offer me again besides our bodies,” she says.
Sonalben Ramesh Padhiyar managed to avoid wasting herself however misplaced her husband, son, and daughter within the bridge collapse. | Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji
A crumbling bridge
The #Vadodara district collector, Anil Dhameliya, says rescue groups recovered 12 our bodies and rescued 5 folks on the day of the tragedy. The following day, they retrieved six extra our bodies. On the third day, they recovered one physique. One of the injured victims died throughout therapy.
The #Mujpur-Ghambira bridge serves as an important hyperlink between central #Gujarat and the Saurashtra area to the west. Construction of the bridge started in 1981, and it was formally opened to the general public in 1985. It is an 832-metre-long bridge with 23 spans. (A span is the horizontal house between two helps of a construction.) Many commuters, particularly heavy autos, most well-liked utilizing this bridge, which helped them bypass the toll on the Ahmedabad-#Vadodara Expressway. With the bridge closed after the incident, the one solution to attain Saurashtra from central #Gujarat is now via Vasad city, an additional 50 km.
Dhameliya says the bridge collapsed at round 7.40 a.m. “The group was the primary responder. The police and ambulances reached inside 10 minutes of the incident. Rescue groups arrived on the web site by 8.20 a.m.,” he says. Officials say it took some extra time to rescue the survivors.
Editorial | #Bridge too far: On the bridge collapse in #Vadodara
In 2017, the Opposition Congress and lots of residents of #Vadodara flagged issues relating to the protection of the bridge. They say that they had additionally known as for a ban on heavy autos on the bridge. “The bridge had developed cracks and shook each time a heavy car handed,” says district panchayat member, Harshadsinh Parmar.
Sonal’s father-in-law, Ravjibhai, 72, says they begged the federal government to restore the “crumbling bridge”, however their requests have been ignored. Ravjibhai has misplaced not solely his son and two grandchildren, but in addition his two sons-in-law and a distant relative within the tragedy.
“Ramesh was my solely son. Naitik was born after years of prayers,” Ravjibhai says as he greets relations, residents, and native leaders who’ve come to supply their condolences. “My spouse was in shock on receiving the information and collapsed. She needed to be hospitalised. My complete household is gone and the federal government is liable for the incident,” he says.
Dhameliya accepts that residents had repeatedly raised issues concerning the bridge’s deteriorating situation with native officers. “While some restore work had been carried out, the State authorities had additionally proposed setting up a brand new bridge after visits from technical groups,” he says.
In response to preliminary findings of negligence, #Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel suspended 4 officers from the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department. “Wherever lapses have come to gentle, motion has been taken. The authorities is not going to hesitate to take additional vital measures,” mentioned Patel, who holds the R&B Department portfolio.
State Health Minister Rushikesh Patel, who can also be a authorities spokesperson, mentioned {that a} high-level probe was being carried out by the R&B Department. “As per the committee’s preliminary findings, the collapse occurred attributable to ‘crushing of the pedestal and articulation’,” the Minister mentioned, with out providing any additional clarification. He mentioned {that a} detailed report can be submitted to the Chief Minister inside 30 days.
A view of the bridge after the tragedy. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bhupendra Patel introduced ex gratia quantities of ₹2 lakh and ₹4 lakh, respectively, for the households of the deceased, and ₹50,000 for every injured particular person.
On July 13, the Chief Minister authorised ₹212 crore for the development of a brand new two-lane bridge over the Mahisagar river, which is able to run parallel to the collapsed construction. He says the venture might be accomplished in 18 months.
Ignoring issues
On the third day after the incident, National Disaster Response Force personnel proceed to hold out rescue operations with quiet willpower. Some of them wade waist-deep within the water, others carry stretchers, and some board inflatable boats to proceed the seek for the lacking. Officers oversee the operations from a tent put up on the banks of the river.
When one of many groups brings again a physique, Parmar factors in direction of it and says, “This may have been prevented if the bridge had been closed to autos years in the past. In so-called progressive #Gujarat, it’s taking them greater than three days to hold out rescue operations.”
Social activist Lakhan Darbar, founding father of a gaggle known as Yuva Sena in #Vadodara, says the difficulty of security first gained consideration in August 2022. Parmar, who can also be a Yuva Sena member, submitted a written grievance concerning the bridge’s situation to officers from the R&B Department and offered representations to the district collector.
“There was no response to Parmar’s grievance and representations,” he says. “So I took it up with a division officer. He acknowledged the dangers, however no motion adopted.”
Darbar additionally shares an audio recording of his dialog with the R&B division officer. In the clip, Darbar is heard saying that the division ought to both restore or reconstruct the bridge given the hazards it posed to commuters. “People’s lives are at risk however no motion has been taken but. We will sit on a quick if steps should not taken,” he’s heard saying.
The officer is heard responding {that a} survey by a personal marketing consultant had additionally flagged issues. He admits that the bridge might not final for much longer. “Even we imagine that the bridge might not survive for lengthy… how can we simply shut the bridge? We have knowledgeable our superiors. A proposal to both rebuild or strengthen the construction has been despatched. Our design crew will examine it,” the official says.
Where the sunshine has gone out
Bamangam is situated on one aspect of the bridge. There aren’t any avenue lights right here. Villagers use torches and cell phones at night time to navigate their method.
Jayantibhai Rathod, a each day wage employee, sits outdoors his home in near-total darkness. His son, Atul, 21, had misplaced his life within the bridge collapse. Two different males from the village, Mohan Chavda and Dilip Padiyar, additionally died within the incident. All three of them have been travelling collectively on a bike to #Mujpur to report for work at their respective corporations, says Rathod.
He says Atul had joined a pharmaceutical firm after a month-long internship solely six days earlier than the incident. “All my three youngsters studied at night time utilizing lanterns. Atul studied very onerous and we have been thrilled when he obtained the job. I used to be relieved that he would share familial duties. But god took him away,” says Rathod.
About 200 m from Rathod’s home is Mohan Chavda’s home on the fringe of a village pond. It is locked. When the hospital handed over Mohan’s physique to his household, they took it to his brother’s home, which was safer and simpler to achieve.
“We obtained our daughter married in February and needed to repay a mortgage of ₹1.75 lakh. Mohan was planning to withdraw a part of his provident fund to clear the debt and had been anxious about it,” says his spouse, Sitaben.
Falling bridges
The Opposition events in #Gujarat have remained united of their condemnation of the BJP authorities. Former Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela launched a scathing assault in opposition to the federal government, claiming that the tragedy is the “value of the BJP’s 30-year misrule.” Congress leaders Amit Chavda and Manish Doshi demanded a high-level judicial probe, and Supriya Shrinate mentioned that the “hole ‘#Gujarat Model’ is one other identify for corruption”. The Aam Aadmi Party’s Isudan Gadhvi known as it “a man-made catastrophe.”
The Trinamool Congress additionally criticised the federal government, recalling {that a} British-era suspension bridge in Morbi, #Gujarat, had collapsed three years in the past, killing not less than 135 folks. The celebration questioned the State’s infrastructure and known as for accountability. “Is this the much-celebrated “#Gujarat Model” that PM @narendramodi continues to champion? Will this too be dismissed as an ‘Act of God’ or will you lastly settle for it for what it’s: AN ACT OF FRAUD!” mentioned its put up on X.
At least six bridges have collapsed since 2021 in #Gujarat. The Morbi incident passed off in 2022. In June 2023, a newly constructed bridge on the Mindhola river in Tapi district collapsed; no casualties have been reported. In September that 12 months, 4 folks have been injured when a portion of an previous bridge on the Bhogavo river in Surendranagar district gave method after a 40-tonne dumper tried to cross it. In August 2024, a small bridge over the Bhogavo river, connecting Habiyasar village to Chotila city in Surendranagar, collapsed attributable to sudden water discharge from an overflowing dam. No fatalities have been reported.
Out of the 7,000 bridges within the State which were surveyed, the federal government has recognized those that want repairs or should be reconstructed, Minister Patel mentioned.
Since the incident, the federal government has shut down 5 bridges — two in Morbi district and three in Surendranagar district — on the Narmada canal community. Authorities have additionally restricted heavy car motion on 4 bridges and listed 36 others for pressing repairs. After the collapse, the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited, which oversees the canal system, carried out technical assessments of over 2,110 bridges situated throughout nationwide highways, State highways, and rural roads.
Parmar is unimpressed. “They have determined to assemble a brand new bridge solely in any case these lives have been misplaced. They ignored repeated requests from the locals to test these bridges. Will this authorities reply to folks’s issues solely after deaths happen,” he asks.
deshpande.abhinay@thehindu.co.in
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