The Morbi municipality on Wednesday passed a resolution saying the civic body never gave its approval to hand over a suspension bridge in the town to Oreva Group, reported PTI.
The ill-fated colonial-era suspension bridge claimed the lives of 135 people on October 30 last year. The bridge was maintained and operated by Oreva Group under an agreement signed with the Morbi municipality.
In the general board meeting held today to discuss this issue, 41 of 52 councillors of the BJP-ruled municipality submitted a separate reply asserting that the majority of the councillors were not aware of the agreement.
On Tuesday, the Gujarat government had asked the civic body to to submit a fresh reply to a show-cause notice as to why it should not be dissolved for failing to discharge its duties before the collapse of the bridge.
Jayrajsinh Jadeja, vice president of the municipality, said the office bearers of the civic body, including the president, vice president and standing committee chairman, are “innocent” because the proposal and subsequent agreement to hand over the bridge to Oreva Group in March last year was never approved through a general board meeting.
“We are not guilty because the agreement to hand over the bridge to Oreva Group was never discussed or approved in the general board meeting. Moreover, we have also mentioned in our reply that Morbi municipality was ruled by Congress when the first agreement was approved by the board (in 2007) for the maintenance of the bridge,” said Jadeja.
On behalf of the 41 councillors, Bhavik Jaria told reporters that 49 of 52 councillors were not aware of the agreement signed by the Morbi municipality with Oreva Group in March last year for the maintenance and operation of the bridge.
(With PTI Inputs)