Mahad bridge collapse: Those not traced within 2 months will be declared dead

So far, rescuers have managed to recover 26 bodies while at least 16 others are still missing and feared dead in the tragedy that took place on August 2.

On Wednesday, the rescuers could not make any breakthrough. Government sources confirmed that with each passing day, the anger of anxious relatives of those still missing was increasing. In a bid to bring some semblance of closure to such families, Patil also announced that the government would reduce the time required for declaring a missing person dead.

While the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, states that “a person is presumed to be dead who is unheard of for more than seven years by those who would naturally have heard of him/her if he/she had been alive”, Patil said the state government had decided to relax the norm as a “special case” for the Mahad tragedy. “It has been decided that all those victims who are not traced within two months will be declared dead.”

Families of those declared dead in the episode are eligible for a compensation of at least Rs 10 lakh. With almost no chance of finding a survivor in the incident, the government is hoping that reducing the time period before declaring a person dead in absentia will help resolve some of the problems that their relatives might face.

The government has also decided to conduct biannual audits of bridges in the state to avoid similar tragedies in future. “There are 2,300 bridges in the state. Of this, some 100-odd were built during the pre-Independence era,” said Patil. He added that it had been decided to conduct an engineering workshop for evolving fresh guidelines for road and bridge inspection work.