Boat ferrying more than 15 capsizes in Mahisagar River; no casualties

For several residents living in villages on the riverbank of the Mahisagar river in Vadodara and Anand districts, travelling in the boat right under the remains of the collapsed Gambhira-Mujpur bridge – which is now being restored for temporary use – is the only way out, to avoid a 45-km detour by road.

On Tuesday, even as District Collector of Vadodara and senior police officers remained unavailable for comment, Vadodara District Congress unit leader and former MLA of Padra Assembly Constituency, Jashpalsinh Padhiyar visited the Mujpur end of the bridge and said that the delay in addressing the issue had resulted in a near tragedy on Tuesday.

Padhiyar said, “Every day, hundreds of people, who are compelled to travel between Vadodara and Anand districts and do not have the means to take the road detour are risking their lives by travelling in private, unregulated boats that ferry passengers without any safeguards… Even though the government could not act in time to save the lives of the people who died in the bridge collapse, the least they can do is to ensure that another tragedy does not occur due to the unregulated boat operations. The river has swelled since the past two days; fortunately, the boat overturned near the shore and not in the deep water.”