The 250 metre-long pedestrian suspension bridge over the Machchu River in the city of Morbi, in the state of Gujarat, collapsed at 6:30pm on Sunday 30th October as crowds gathered for Chhath Puja, a Hindu ceremony.
In March this year the Morbi municipality, which owns the bridge, awarded a 15-year repair and maintenance contract to the Ahmedabad-based Oreva Group.
The bridge was closed for repairs in March and was reopened on 26th October, the Gujarati New Year.
Local government leader Sandeepsinh Zala told the Indian Express: 鈥淭he bridge is a property of the Morbi municipality, but we had handed it over to Oreva Group a few months ago for maintenance and operations for a duration of 15 years.
鈥淗owever, the private firm threw the bridge open to visitors without notifying us and therefore we couldn鈥檛 get a safety audit of the bridge conducted,鈥� he said.
Questions have now been raised about the decision to award the maintenance contract to Oreva Group. The Ahmedabad-based company is a leading manufacturer of light bulbs, wall clocks and e-bikes but has no track record in construction or infrastructure maintenance.
Oreva was also responsible for collecting tolls from people using the bridge.
The NDTV news channel reported that at the time of the collapse up to 500 people were on the bridge which had a capacity of only 125. 聽
A spokesperson of the Oreva Group told the Indian Express: 鈥淲hile we are waiting for more information, prima facie, the bridge collapsed as too many people in the mid-section of the bridge were trying to sway it from one way to the other鈥�.
The state government of Gujarat has appointed a five-member team of police officers and civil servants to investigate the tragedy.
Nine people connected to the Oreva Group have been detained by Gujarat police, according to the Times of India.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
