Gujarat order underlines repeated failures of Morbi municipal body

The government also rejected the contention of the BJP-dominated general board of the Morbi municipality that operations and maintenance of the bridge, constructed in 1887, was the sole responsibility of Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt Ltd (AMPL) of the Oreva Group.

The order, issued by the Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, lists examples of repeated “failures” of the municipality for almost five years. The order said that neither did the municipality do anything to reclaim possession of the bridge or maintain it for almost five years after the earlier MoU signed with Oreva Group expired in June 2017 nor did it take action after AMPL threw the bridge open to the public four days before the tragedy.

“Thus, the municipality has failed to perform its duties… Jaysukh Patel, owner of Ajanta company, addressed a press conference and threw the bridge open to the public on October 26, 2022. Thus, despite being well aware of this fact, the municipality didn’t enquire with Ajanta company about the completion of the repair work of Jhulto Pul or whether the latter had obtained a fitness certificate (of the bridge). Thus, the municipality has completely failed to maintain its assets,” the order reads.

The order also states that the municipality did not act despite warnings from AMPL between 2018 and 2020 that the bridge was in a dilapidated condition and that there was a possibility of “serious accident” its use was continued. It also trashed the contention of the political wing of the Morbi municipality that Sandeepsinh Zala, the then chief officer of the municipality, signed a new MoU with AMPL on March 7, 2022, and handed over operations and maintenance of the bridge to the firm for 15 years without the concurrence of the political wing. The government said the CO has to act as per the advice of the municipality president.

Citing these failures, the government said that it was necessary to dissolve the municipality. “The state government has felt that the Morbi municipality has failed to perform its duties made incumbent upon it… and has become incompetent… taking into account reasons cited above, the state government, declares the said municipality incompetent to discharging its duties and keeping in mind the public interest, the Morbi municipality is dissolved with immediate effect,” the order notes.