Policy for maintenance of civic bridges soon, Gujarat govt tells HC

The Gujarat government Monday told the High Court that it is in the process of formulating a policy on the maintenance of bridges that fall under municipality and municipal corporation jurisdictions. The state also informed that “proceedings are in progress” with regard to the dissolution of the Morbi municipality.

The submission came during the hearing of the suo motu public interest litigation concerning the collapse of the Morbi suspension bridge in October 2022, by the division bench of Chief Justice Sonia Gokani and Justice Sandeep Bhatt. The court of CJ Gokani inquired as to in what manner the state holds anyone accountable when things go wrong with bridges in the urban areas.

On behalf of the state government, Advocate General Kamal Trivedi, responded, “We are coming out with the policy, maybe in a couple of days. It is in the formulation stage. In the meantime, we tried to see that things are seen and taken care of. Public bodies have been directed to invite tenders immediately (wherever repair work is required).”

The state had earlier submitted that currently there was no consolidated state-level policy governing the maintenance and management of bridges under the urban development department (UDD), while the roads and buildings (R&B) department had one.

The hearing in the PIL will continue on Tuesday.