3 min readAhmedabadOct 25, 2023 06:09 PM IST
First published on: Oct 25, 2023 at 06:06 PM IST
The company in charge of constructing a bridge in Palanpur — that collapsed Monday — was blacklisted by the BJP government in Gujarat in 2016-17, the state unit of the Congress claimed Wednesday.
The party also targeted Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel — who holds the portfolio of Roads and Buildings department — for the bridge collapse wherein two people were killed.
“The tradition has been that the companies blacklisted are not given contracts in future. The Palanpur bridge contractor, GPC Infrastructure, is the same company which was blacklisted in 2016-17 in connection with a road construction work in Ahmedabad. How can this blacklisted company get a contract for the bridge in 2021? Whose blessings does the company have?” Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Amit Chavda said in a media briefing on Wednesday.
The Indian Express in 2017 had reported that three road contractors — Akash Infrastructure Project, GPC Infrastructure and J R Agrawal — were blacklisted by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation for two years, after one-third of a road the firms built got washed away during the monsoon that year.
Chavda alleged that GPC Infrastructure had contributed about Rs one crore to the party fund of the BJP before the 2019 election in Gujarat. “Today in Gujarat, if you want to take up a contract for a road or bridge, as long as a commission is not sent to the Kamlam (referring to the BJP office) the contract is not awarded,” Chavda added.
The Congress leader said more than 13 bridges have collapsed in Gujarat in the last few years. “In 2022 alone, about seven bridges collapsed. When one bridge breaks in West Bengal, our Prime Minister describes it as an ‘Act of Fraud’ in his speeches. Despite so many bridges collapsing in Gujarat, including the recent one in Palanpur, the PM did not even tweet about it,” he said, adding that the bridges built during the Congress regime in Gujarat have stood the test of time.
Asking the ruling “double-engine BJP government” in Gujarat to conduct a safety inspection of all the bridges in the state and post their fitness certificates in public domain for the people, Chavda said, “People pay taxes for their convenience, safety and prosperity and not for filling up the pockets of officials, ministers and contractors. When the Roads and Buildings department is under the Chief Minister, it is the direct responsibility of the Chief Minister to keep an eye on the functioning of the department. This department is taking people for a ride as it remains focused on commission and Kamlam (BJP headquarters).”
The Congress leader also claimed that the state government has not acted against erring contractors and officials involved in the bridge collapses in the state.
“How many investigations have been conducted (for the bridge collapse)? How many people were booked? What action was taken against the minister or a government official and the secretaries? The government needs to answer as these infrastructure projects are executed with the taxes paid by the people,” Chavda added.
The BJP or the state government is yet to react to the allegations made by the Congress.
Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Amit Chavda claimed that the state government has not acted against erring contractors and officials involved in the bridge collapses in the state. (Screengrab/Twitter/ Amit Chavda 
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