Morbi, Feb 19: The Gujarat government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has found in its preliminary probe that corrosion on nearly half of the wires on a cable and welding of old suspenders with new ones were some of the major faults that led to the collapse of the suspension bridge in Morbi last year in which 135 people were killed.

These findings are part of the 'Preliminary Report on Morbi Bridge Incident' submitted by the five-member SIT in December 2022. The report was recently shared with the Morbi Municipality by the state Urban Development Department.

Ajanta Manufacturing Limited (Oreva Group) was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the British-era suspension bridge on the Machchu river that collapsed on October 30 last year. The SIT had found several lapses in repairs, maintenance and operation of the bridge.

IAS officer Rajkumar Beniwal, IPS officer Subhash Trivedi, a secretary and a chief engineer from the state Roads and Building Department and a professor of structural engineering were members of the SIT.

The SIT noted that of the two main cables of the bridge, built by the erstwhile rulers in 1887 over river Machchhu, one cable was having issues of corrosion and nearly half of its wires "may be already broken" even before the cable snapped on October 30 evening.

According to the SIT, the main cable on the upstream side of the river snapped, leading to the tragedy.

Each cable was formed by seven strands, each comprising seven steel wires. Total 49 wires were clubbed together in seven strands to form this cable, the SIT report said.

"It was observed that out of the 49 wires (of that cable), 22 were corroded, which indicates that those wires may have already broken before the incident. The remaining 27 wires recently broke," the SIT said in its report.

The SIT also found that during the renovation work, "old suspenders (steel rods which connect the cable with the platform deck) were welded with the new suspenders. Hence the behaviour of suspenders changed. In these types of bridges, single rod suspenders should be used to bear the load".

Notably, the Morbi Municipality, without the approval of the general board, had awarded the contract to maintain and operate the bridge to Oreva Group (Ajanta Manufacturing Limited), which had closed the bridge in March 2022 for renovation and opened it on October 26 without any prior approval or inspection.

According to the SIT, there were nearly 300 persons on the bridge at the time of collapse, which was "far more" than the load bearing capacity of the bridge. It, however, said the actual capacity of the bridge will be confirmed by laboratory reports.

The probe report also pointed out that replacing individual wooden planks with an aluminium deck also played a role in the collapse.
"Walking structure was made up of rigid aluminium panels instead of flexible wooden planks. If there were individual wooden planks (which were there before renovation), the number of casualties could have been lower. Moreover, no load test or structure test was conducted before opening the bridge," it added.

The aluminium honeycomb panels were fixed without any gap in between, which makes the deck less flexible to deform in its own plane, said the SIT, adding that the use of aluminium could have increased the overall weight of the bridge too.

Morbi police have already arrested ten accused, including Oreva Group's MD Jaysukh Patel, under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 336 (act which endangers human life), 337 (causing hurt to any person by doing any rash or negligent act) and under 338 (causing grievous hurt by doing rash or negligent act).

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Belagavi (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said he is ready to form a committee headed by a retired judge to look into the Waqf properties issue.

The chief minister also assured the Karnataka Assembly that the government will not remove those temples which are built on Waqf properties. In case notices have been served to them, then they will be withdrawn, he said.

Replying to the question raised by the opposition BJP on the Waqf land issue in the ongoing Assembly session on Thursday, the chief minister said, "Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has given a detailed reply to the charges of the opposition party.

"If they are not content with our reply, the government is ready to form a committee headed by a retired judge," the chief minister told the house.

He also made it clear that the matter is not a prestige issue.

Siddaramaiah said the central government had enacted the Wakf Act in 1954, which the state government cannot amend.

"The BJP-led government was in power in the state from 2008 to 2013 and from 2019 to 2023. The BJP has been in power at the Centre since 2014. Then, without thinking about amending the Wakf Act, they are now raising a controversy,” he alleged.

Siddaramaiah said the BJP, in its election manifesto, had said that it would discuss with Muslim religious leaders and clear and protect the encroached Waqf properties.

The government has clearly answered all the questions of the opposition. This should remove the confusion among the people, he added.

Siddaramaiah also assured the House that the government will not touch Waqf lands sanctioned under the Inam Cancellation and Land Reforms Act.

According to him, of the total 1.28 lakh acres of Waqf property, 47,263 acres are under the Inam Cancellation and 23,623 acres under the Land Reforms Act, and 3,000 acres have been used for public purposes. About 17,969 acres of Waqf land has been encroached on by private individuals.

"There is a Supreme Court order to protect these. Once it is registered as a Waqf property, it will always be a Waqf property," he said.

During a discussion on the issue of the Waqf Board issuing eviction notices to farmers, temples and many other individuals, the chief minister said, "If temples have been built on Waqf properties then we will not remove them. I am making it very clear. In case any notice has been issued, they (notices) will be withdrawn."

As the raging Waqf issue echoed in the Assembly with the BJP raising it, Waqf and Minority Affairs Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan clarified that if notices were given to farmers and temples then they would be withdrawn.

The chief minister too reiterated Khan's statement and said no farmer will be evicted from the land they have been tilling.

BJP legislator Araga Jnanendra demanded that the properties mentioned in the government records as those of Waqf should also be removed as the mere cancelling of notices will not serve the purpose.

Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka justified the demand by saying that 110 Kuruba families in the Krishna Raja constituency in Siddaramaiah's home district of Mysuru had been running from pillar to post to get the notices revoked.

They have submitted several memoranda to Siddaramaiah, but to no avail, he said, adding there were hundreds of such instances where people were facing hardships due to such notices.

Khan reminded the BJP that in its manifesto in 2014, there was a promise to remove encroachment on Waqf properties.

The chief minister underlined the need to save the Waqf properties, saying there were 1.10 lakh acres of such properties in the state which has now been reduced to just 20,000 acres due to various provisions of law such as the Inam Abolition Act as well as encroachment.

Jnanendra said, "We (BJP) too support saving the Waqf properties but our point is why notices were given now."

Siddaramaiah said the situation was such that there was a need to save the properties and notices were given as there is a central law for it.

The clarification was necessary now because he explained that a march was taken out from Bidar by the Vijayapura BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal from Bidar.

"There is a political split in the BJP but I won't discuss your internal matter," Siddaramaiah quipped.

He referred to the differences between Yatnal and BJP state chief B Y Vijayendra. As a show of strength, Yatnal decided to take out a march from Bidar to Chamarajanagar with the support of 12 senior BJP leaders including MP and MLAs.

He accused the BJP of politicising the issue. He reminded that despite the attempt to communalise the atmosphere in the state, the BJP lost the recent bypolls in all three assembly segments, Channapatna, Sandur and Shiggaon.

Not satisfied by the explanation given by the Congress government, the BJP legislators staged a walkout from the assembly.