SC To Hear Plea On Bridge Tragedy!
New Delhi: On Tuesday, 01 November 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gujarat's Morbi, where a century-old bridge collapsed on Sunday, killing 135 people.
The PM is expected to visit the incident site in Morbi and the civil hospital where the injured have been admitted for treatment. He chaired a high-level meeting last night during which he was briefed about the rescue efforts.
The British-era suspension bridge in Morbi, which had been closed since March for renovation, collapsed on Sunday night - just four days after it reopened to the public. At least 47 children, several women and elderly are among the dead, according to the officials.
Nearly 500 people were on the bridge when it suddenly collapsed. Though, the 150-year-old structure could take the weight of only about 125 people.
The bridge was opened to the public ahead of schedule by five months, the documents show. The Oreva Group, the company that renovated the bridge, did not take a fitness certificate from the civic authorities before reopening the bridge, which Morbi municipal agency chief Sandipsinh Zala confirmed to NDTV on Sunday.
The company was bound by its contract to keep the bridge shut for at least eight to 12 months for maintenance and repairs. It was a "seriously irresponsible and careless gesture" to open the bridge last week, the police said in an FIR.
On Sunday, Tickets were sold for ? 12 to ? 17 to more than 400 people, officials said, which resulted in overcrowding on the "hanging bridge", causing the old metal cables to give way.
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