NewzVille Desk
The Congress today sought the resignation of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi over the repeated disasters causing huge loss of life and the culprits getting away with it. The party demanded constituting a high-level committee of officers whose integrity is above board to probe the 16 incidents of bridge collapse in last 4 years.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here today, party leaders from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani, an MLA, and Lalji Desai, Chairman Congress Seva Dal, squarely blamed the Gujarat government for the Gambhira bridge collapse, which has led to 16 deaths and seven persons going missing.
Mevani said that the people from the adjacent areas had repeatedly raised alarms about the vulnerability of the bridge, warning that it could collapse anytime but their concerns fell on deaf ears of the government and bureaucracy.
He said, even after the collapse of the bridge, there were no immediate rescue efforts from the administration and it was the local fishermen who helped people. He said that it took the local administration about one hour to start rescue operations, by which time it was too late.
The Gujarat Congress legislator disclosed that the Gambhira bridge collapse was only one in a series as 16 major tragedies owing to such disasters had taken place during the last 4 years. He said, not a single person had been held responsible.
