The contractors who carried out repairs of the suspension bridge at Morbi in Gujarat were “not qualified” to carry out such jobs, the prosecution told a court in Morbi on Tuesday.
Citing a forensic report, the prosecution said that the flooring of the bridge was replaced but its cable was not replaced and it could not take the weight of the changed flooring.
As per the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report, prosecutor HS Panchal told the court that forensic experts believed that the main cable of the bridge snapped because of the weight of the new flooring. The collapse of the bridge on Sunday evening claimed 135 lives.
“Though the FSL report was presented in a sealed cover, it was mentioned during the remand plea that cables of the bridge were not replaced during the renovation and only flooring was changed… Weight of the bridge increased due to the four-layered aluminium sheets for the flooring and the cable snapped due to that weight,” Panchal told reporters.
The court was also informed that both the repairing contractors were “not qualified” to carry out such work.
“Despite that, these contractors were given repair work of the bridge in 2007 and then in 2022. So the accused’s custody was needed to find out what was the reason for choosing them and at whose instance they were chosen,” the prosecutor said.