NE NEWS SERVICE
RAJKOT, JULY 7
A court in Rajkot has directed the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and local authorities to repair a portion of an overbridge of a national highway here, after noting that even over a year after its collapse, in which two passersby died, the structure had not been repaired.
In its order related to the collapse of a wall of an overbridge of Jetpur-Gondal Rajkot national highway in Rajkot on June 8 last year, the court of additional sessions judge Hetal Pavar said that neither the NHAI nor any other concerned authority or the government had repaired the portion of the collapsed wall on the busy highway.
The order, which granted anticipatory bail to the team leader of an independent consultant involved in the construction of the wall, was made available on Wednesday. The court in its order noted that not repairing the damaged portion of the collapsed wall is dangerous for the public, and expressed apprehension that such an incident may recur and cause serious injuries or casualties.
“Safeguards of the public at large are the prime duty of the state. Thus, it is quite necessary to make immediate proper repairs on the damaged portions to avoid such fatal incidents in future,” it said.
It was the court’s duty to draw the attention of the NHAI as well as collector and district magistrate to urgently repair the damage “to avoid another fatal incident and casualties of such nature”, the judge said in the order.
Based on the report of a magisterial inquiry into the incident ordered by the state government, an FIR was lodged against three entities – West Gujarat Express Limited, MSI Consulting Engineers Pvt. Ltd and MS Vadia Techno Engineer Service Ltd – under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and other relevant provisions of the IPC.
