The Gujarat government has asked the Morbi municipality 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 a suspension bridge in the town that killed 135 persons last year. The Urban Development Department said in a letter to the chief of the municipality that it should submit a written reply, duly approved by its general body, by February 16.
The show-cause notice had been issued on January 18. The government did not accept a reply dated February 7 sent by the municipality's lawyer, and asked for a fresh reply so that it could consider whether the civic body should be given an in-person hearing.
In view of the government's new deadline, the municipality has called an urgent general body meeting on Wednesday, civic sources said. The ill-fated bridge was maintained and operated by Oreva Group under an agreement signed with the Morbi municipality.
In its show-cause notice of January 18, the government wanted to know why the civic body did not take note of the issues raised by Oreva Group between 2018 and 2020 about the dilapidated condition of the bridge and the possibility of a serious accident if it remained open to the public.
Moreover, the municipality did not take any concrete action to take over the bridge from the company in 2017 after the completion of the previous contract despite knowing the situation of the bridge, the notice said.
The civic body had urged the government to return documents seized by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the bridge collapse to enable it to submit a reply. The state government had, on December 13, told the Gujarat High Court during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) that it had decided to dissolve the municipality.