Corroded wires, welded suspenders behind Morbi bridge tragedy: SIT in preliminary probe report
5 min readBy PTI
MORBI: Gujarat government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has present in its preliminary probe that corrosion on almost half of the wires on a cable and welding of outdated suspenders with new ones had been a number of the main faults that led to the collapse of the suspension bridge in Morbi final yr during which 135 folks had been killed.
These findings are a part of the ‘Preliminary Report on Morbi Bridge Incident’ submitted by the five-member SIT in December 2022.
The report was just lately shared with the Morbi Municipality by the state Urban Development Department.
Ajanta Manufacturing Limited (Oreva Group) was chargeable for the operation and upkeep of the British-era suspension bridge on the Machchu river that collapsed on October 30 final yr.
The SIT had discovered a number of lapses in repairs, upkeep and operation of the bridge.
IAS officer Rajkumar Beniwal, IPS officer Subhash Trivedi, a secretary and a chief engineer from the state Roads and Building Department and a professor of structural engineering had been members of the SIT.
The SIT famous that of the 2 foremost cables of the bridge, constructed by the erstwhile rulers in 1887 over river Machchhu, one cable was having problems with corrosion and almost half of its wires “may be already broken” even earlier than the cable snapped on October 30 night.
According to the SIT, the principle cable on the upstream aspect of the river snapped, resulting in the tragedy.
Each cable was shaped by seven strands, every comprising seven metal wires.
A complete of 49 wires had been clubbed collectively in seven strands to kind this cable, the SIT report stated.
“It was observed that out of the 49 wires (of that cable), 22 were corroded, which indicates that those wires may have already broken before the incident. The remaining 27 wires recently broke,” the SIT stated in its report.
The SIT additionally discovered that throughout the renovation work, “old suspenders (steel rods which connect the cable with the platform deck) were welded with the new suspenders. Hence the behaviour of suspenders changed. In these types of bridges, single rod suspenders should be used to bear the load”.
Notably, the Morbi Municipality, with out the approval of the final board, had awarded the contract to keep up and function the bridge to Oreva Group (Ajanta Manufacturing Limited), which closed the bridge in March 2022 for renovation and opened it on October 26 with none prior approval or inspection.
According to the SIT, there have been almost 300 individuals on the bridge on the time of the collapse, which was “far more” than the load-bearing capability of the bridge.
It, nonetheless, stated the precise capability of the bridge will likely be confirmed by laboratory studies.
The probe report additionally identified that changing particular person picket planks with an aluminium deck additionally performed a job within the collapse.
“Walking construction was made up of inflexible aluminium panels as a substitute of versatile picket planks.
If there have been particular person picket planks (which had been there earlier than renovation), the variety of casualties might have been decrease.
Moreover, no load check or construction check was carried out earlier than opening the bridge,” it added.
The aluminium honeycomb panels had been mounted with none hole in between, which makes the deck much less versatile to deform in its personal aircraft, stated the SIT, including that the usage of aluminium might have elevated the general weight of the bridge too.
Morbi police have already arrested ten accused, together with Oreva Group’s MD Jaysukh Patel, beneath IPC sections 304 (culpable murder not amounting to homicide), 308 (try and commit culpable murder), 336 (act which endangers human life), 337 (inflicting harm to any particular person by doing any rash or negligent act) and beneath 338 (inflicting grievous harm by doing rash or negligent act).
MORBI: Gujarat government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has present in its preliminary probe that corrosion on almost half of the wires on a cable and welding of outdated suspenders with new ones had been a number of the main faults that led to the collapse of the suspension bridge in Morbi final yr during which 135 folks had been killed.
These findings are a part of the ‘Preliminary Report on Morbi Bridge Incident’ submitted by the five-member SIT in December 2022.
The report was just lately shared with the Morbi Municipality by the state Urban Development Department.
Ajanta Manufacturing Limited (Oreva Group) was chargeable for the operation and upkeep of the British-era suspension bridge on the Machchu river that collapsed on October 30 final yr.
The SIT had discovered a number of lapses in repairs, upkeep and operation of the bridge.
IAS officer Rajkumar Beniwal, IPS officer Subhash Trivedi, a secretary and a chief engineer from the state Roads and Building Department and a professor of structural engineering had been members of the SIT.
The SIT famous that of the 2 foremost cables of the bridge, constructed by the erstwhile rulers in 1887 over river Machchhu, one cable was having problems with corrosion and almost half of its wires “may be already broken” even earlier than the cable snapped on October 30 night.
According to the SIT, the principle cable on the upstream aspect of the river snapped, resulting in the tragedy.
Each cable was shaped by seven strands, every comprising seven metal wires.
A complete of 49 wires had been clubbed collectively in seven strands to kind this cable, the SIT report stated.
“It was observed that out of the 49 wires (of that cable), 22 were corroded, which indicates that those wires may have already broken before the incident. The remaining 27 wires recently broke,” the SIT stated in its report.
The SIT additionally discovered that throughout the renovation work, “old suspenders (steel rods which connect the cable with the platform deck) were welded with the new suspenders. Hence the behaviour of suspenders changed. In these types of bridges, single rod suspenders should be used to bear the load”.
Notably, the Morbi Municipality, with out the approval of the final board, had awarded the contract to keep up and function the bridge to Oreva Group (Ajanta Manufacturing Limited), which closed the bridge in March 2022 for renovation and opened it on October 26 with none prior approval or inspection.
According to the SIT, there have been almost 300 individuals on the bridge on the time of the collapse, which was “far more” than the load-bearing capability of the bridge.
It, nonetheless, stated the precise capability of the bridge will likely be confirmed by laboratory studies.
The probe report additionally identified that changing particular person picket planks with an aluminium deck additionally performed a job within the collapse.
“Walking construction was made up of inflexible aluminium panels as a substitute of versatile picket planks.
If there have been particular person picket planks (which had been there earlier than renovation), the variety of casualties might have been decrease.
Moreover, no load check or construction check was carried out earlier than opening the bridge,” it added.
The aluminium honeycomb panels had been mounted with none hole in between, which makes the deck much less versatile to deform in its personal aircraft, stated the SIT, including that the usage of aluminium might have elevated the general weight of the bridge too.
Morbi police have already arrested ten accused, together with Oreva Group’s MD Jaysukh Patel, beneath IPC sections 304 (culpable murder not amounting to homicide), 308 (try and commit culpable murder), 336 (act which endangers human life), 337 (inflicting harm to any particular person by doing any rash or negligent act) and beneath 338 (inflicting grievous harm by doing rash or negligent act).
