The Gujarat High Court has asked the state administration not to commit the same mistake as it had done in the case of the Morbi suspension bridge repair while ordering the repair of bridges in Gondal, Rajkot, since the Morbi case was a 'engineering disaster.'
During the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) regarding the dilapidated state of historic bridges in Gondal, the government informed the division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P Mayee that it had begun repairing the two bridges in Gondal town, Rajkot district, which were built more than a century ago by the former King Bhagvatsinhji Maharaj.
The judges criticized the government after it claimed that it had done everything in its capacity in repairing the bridges. The CJ said the government is saying so after “everything has been upturned”. The court also pulled up the government for its delayed action and questioned, “Have you made any inquiry where Kumbhkarna was?”
The government pleader submitted that £1.7 million was transferred to the municipality for the construction of two new bridges, with the possibility of demolishing one of the existing old bridges.
The Gujarat high court said the iconic structures do not need to be demolished but repaired with the help of conservation architects.
The CJ said, “Have you ensured the repairs are not done like they were done in the case of Morbi bridge? We will also ask you to make sure and also submit periodical reports with regards to its repairs, because if you are repairing an old or heritage structure, the same material is to be used. You cannot change the material. In the Morbi bridge case, they have replaced wooden planks with aluminum planks, which has resulted in the collapse of the bridge. That was an engineering disaster.”