Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Thursday suspended four engineers from the Roads and Buildings (R&B) department, a day after the collapse of a section of the Mujpur-Gambhira bridge over the Mahisagar river in Vadodara district that killed at least 17 people. Eight others were injured in the incident, while search operations are ongoing for three missing individuals.
According to the reports, the suspended officials include Executive Engineer N.M. Nayakawala, Deputy Executive Engineers U.C. Patel and R.T. Patel, and Assistant Engineer J.V. Shah, all from the R&B Vadodara Division.
The decision came after senior officials from the department visited the accident site in Padra taluka and submitted a preliminary report. The Chief Minister had earlier formed an expert panel to assess the entire lifespan of the bridge. The panel reviewed maintenance history, repair records, inspection reports, and quality checks before submitting its findings.
The Gujarat Government has announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also declared an additional Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia for the families of those killed and Rs 50,000 for the injured from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.