Following Gujarat’s Morbi bridge collapse, Morbi Municipal Corporation chief officer, Sandipsinh Zala is making headlines after his suspension
Zala was reportedly suspended on Friday, November 4, a day after he was interrogated by the cops for more than 4 hours.
Know Who Is Sandipsinh Zala Chief Municipal Officer Of Morbi Gujarat Suspended After Bridge Collapse
#Morbi Nagarpalika Chief officer Sandipsinh Zala Suspended
Gujarat Urban Development Dept. takes decision following the Cable Bridge mishap#Gujarat #MorbiBridgeCollapse pic.twitter.com/SQ875O5iYW
— Sanj Samacharᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠ (@Sanj_news) November 4, 2022
Gujarat | Chief officer of Morbi Nagar Palika Sandipsinh Zala suspended following #MorbiBridgeCollapse incident.
— ANI (@ANI) November 4, 2022
For those who are not familiar with the situation, let us tell you, a British-era bridge that was built on the Machchhu river in Morbi town collapsed on Sunday evening, October 30.
The tragic incident has killed around 135 people including women and children.
Following the incident, the authorities have taken into custody 9 people who are linked with the incident including 2 managers of Oreva Group and 2 sub-contractors.
The group was under contract to renovate the bridge. These all 9 people are nabbed under the charges of IPC sec 304 i.e, Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to Murder.
As per a report by the Telegraph, the District Collector of Morbi, G T Pandya, revealed in a statement that the chief officer has been suspended.
Pandya stated, “The state Urban Development Department has suspended Chief Officer of Morbi Municipality Sandipsinh Zala.”
Amid the news of the suspension of Morbi’s Municipal chief officer, many want to know more about him. So, here’s all the details that you might need to know.
Who’s Sandipsinh Zala?
Sandipsinh Zala, the chief municipal officer from Morbi was questioned by the authorities in the wake of Morbi’s bridge collapse incident.
He was asked to explain the agreement that was signed with the Oreva group, a Gujarat based electrical appliances company, to renovate the historic bridge.
As per a Deputy Superintendent of Police of Morbi, a contract was signed between the contractor company and Oreva group.
In his statement the DS stated, “A one-page contract was signed between Oreva and the contractor company, awarding Rs 29 lakh for the bridge repair and with no specification on a standard operating procedure for the work or the works that are required to be completed.”
On Tuesday, Morbi police department told the local court that many cables of the bridge were in rustic condition and the accident could have been avoided if they were all replaced or maintained.
In his statement the Deputy Superintendent revealed that, “No documentation of what work and how it was done has been maintained. The material procured/used, if its quality was checked, remains to be probed.”
Meanwhile in conversation with PTI, the Prosecutor, HS Panchal stated, “Despite that, these contractors were given repair work on the bridge in 2007 and then in 2022.”