‘He was not required to be there…’: Month after bridge tragedy, Vadodara family rues loss of son whose body was never found

That morning, the family also had a visitor — Rajesh Chavda, Vikramsinh’s maternal cousin, who had stayed the previous night after a birthday celebration.

Since the two Padhiyar brothers and Chavda worked in the same company, Vikramsinh decided to make a quick dash to his cousin’s home in Devapura, across the Mahisagar river in Anand district, to allow Chavda to get a fresh pair of clothes to wear to work.

To get to Devapura, Vikramsinh took the usual route via the Mujpur-Gambhira bridge and was among the 25 people, who plunged into the swelling Mahisagar when a span of about 15 metres of the bridge collapsed along with a few vehicles. (Express Photo)

To get to Devapura, Vikramsinh took the usual route via the Mujpur-Gambhira bridge and was among the 25 people, who plunged into the swelling Mahisagar when a span of about 15 metres of the bridge collapsed along with a few vehicles. Vikramsinh and Chavda are among the 22 people who lost their lives in the tragedy. Vikramsinh is the only one whose body has not been found yet.

On August 6, almost a month later, Vikramsinh’s father Ramesh Padhiyar is seated on a worn-out charpai outside his hut, rolling beedis along with his octogenarian uncle, who lives in the same house. The mood in the family continues to be sombre as they attempt to come to terms with how their lives changed in an instant. Just three weeks before the July 9 tragedy, Vikramsinh and the entire family had celebrated the first birthday of his first-born, Nirali. Ramesh, 48, says: “We lost everything in a matter of minutes… It had only been about 15 minutes when Vikram had left with Rajesh to take him to Devapura so that he could change, and they could return and head to work. Otherwise, he didn’t need to travel through the bridge to get to work… I don’t know if we should call it fate or misfortune… Their commute to work did not require them to cross the Mujpur-Gambhira bridge ever.”

Vikram’s older brother, Bhupendra (25), laments the moment his brothers decided to visit Devapura. He says: “We only ever travelled on the bridge when we had to visit our maternal aunt’s family… Vikram decided to take (Chavda) to Devapura just to get him a fresh pair of clothes as the night stay had been unplanned. I wish we had an extra pair of clothes to share with him… It would not have required Vikram and Rajesh to be on that bridge at that moment…”

While Chavda’s body was found during the first 72 hours of the rescue operations, the bereaved family decided to perform the final rites of Vikram as well with the authorities being unable to retrieve the body even on the fifth day even as all other bodies — 20 at that time — had been found.

Ramesh says: “I cannot deny that the administration tried its best to find the body. They called in experts and brought in underwater equipment and shared with me the images on the mobile phone to show that there was no body under the slab that had been stuck in the river. We had to accept that the Goddess of the river, Mahisagar Mata, took away our son. It was her will. We decided to perform the last rites on the river bank for his soul and for our own closure.”

Vikram’s wife Heena has returned to her maternal home along with Nirali. Says Ramesh: “My daughter-in-law told us that she will be unable to stay here as the place will remind her constantly of her pain… We understood what she meant so she has returned to her parents’ house. But if she tells us that she wants to come back, we will keep her as our daughter as Vikram’s family is all that we have of him…”

Vikram’s wife Heena has returned to her maternal home along with Nirali. Says Ramesh (sitting in centre): “My daughter-in-law told us that she will be unable to stay here as the place will remind her constantly of her pain”. (Express Photo by Bhupendra Rana)

Considering the case as an “exception”, the state government has awarded the compensation to the family as well as a death certificate, although Vikram’s body has not been found.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Vadodara District Collector Anil Dhameliya said that the district-level committee under his chairmanship, comprising District Development Officer (DDO), District Superintendent of Police and Resident Additional Collector, had decided to consider the case of the Padhiyars as an “exception” to the rule of missing persons. Dhameliya said: “The rescue teams had searched extensively with help of NDRF, SDRF, fire teams and also brought Sonar equipment (that allows sound waves to search in the water) from Mumbai, Anand and Kutch but they could not find the body… We made two decisions for the family; we decided to declare Vikramsinh Padhiyar among the deceased and issued a death certificate. The family was also awarded government compensation.”

Dhameliya said: “In a case of disaster, when something has happened and we are convinced that the missing person is a victim of the disaster, we can consider the case as that of other victims providing the kin with compensation; the competent authority can issue a death certificate as well.”