A newly built bridge on the Tapi district’s Mindhola River, which was ready for inauguration, collapsed on Wednesday morning.
According to the officials, no casualties were reported, officials said.
According to the locals, the incident took place on Wednesday at around 6.30 am when the middle portion of the bridge which connected Maypur village in Valod taluka to Dehgama village in Vyara taluka, collapsed into the Mindhola River.
Following the incident, Tapi District Collector Vipin Garg announced a probe earlier in the day while Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel ordered a high-level inquiry by Wednesday evening.
CM Patel also issued orders for immediate suspension of the Executive Engineer, the Deputy Executive Engineer, and the Assistant Engineer associated with the project.
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Surat-based Akshay Construction, which was given the contract to build the bridge, has been blacklisted for using substandard concrete, a government statement said.
What did District Collector Vipin Garg say?
As per media reports, District Collector Vipin Garg said,“The bridge was presently non-operational and a portion of the bridge collapsed. We have ordered a probe into the incident and the quality of the material used will be thoroughly checked,”
Garg also added that a quality control team from Gandhinagar also came to carry out a probe.
“At present, it is difficult to say the reason behind the collapse of a portion bridge”, he said.
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The length of the bridge is 100 m while the width is 8.40 m with two abutments and three piers, according to people familiar with the matter.
All about the bridge construction
It has been reported that the bridge was covered under the 2017-18 Mukhya Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (causeway to bridge).
Following the tender procedures, the work order was given to Akshay Construction at Rs. 1.84 crores on February 5, 2020.
Surat-based Green Design and Engineering was involved in designing.
As per the terms and conditions, the work was to be finished in 11 months. The agency, however, requested a deadline extension. May 30 was the deadline later given.
