Tapi bridge collapse: CM orders high-level investigation; three suspended; firm banned

On Wednesday morning, a freshly constructed bridge across the Mindhola River in the Tapi area collapsed just before its opening. Officials claimed there were no recorded casualties. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel ordered a high-level investigation to be completed by Wednesday evening after Tapi District Collector Vipin Garg announced an investigation earlier in the day.

The Executive Engineer, Deputy Executive Engineer, and Assistant Engineer connected to the project were also ordered to be suspended immediately by the Chief Minister. Under the Mukhya Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, the bridge was built. Around Rs 2 crore is the anticipated cost of the building.

According to a government announcement, the bridge's construction company, Akshay Construction, based in Surat, was blacklisted for using subpar concrete. The bridge was no longer in use, and a section of it had fallen. The quality of the material used will be carefully examined, and we have requested a probe into the occurrence, according to Vipin Garg.

Garg claimed that a quality assurance team from Gandhinagar also arrived to conduct an investigation. It is currently difficult to determine what caused a piece of the bridge to fall, the speaker said.

According to those with knowledge of the situation, the bridge is 100 metres long, 8.40 metres wide, and has three piers in addition to two abutments.

On Wednesday, the slab section spanning Piers 2 and 3 collapsed. The bridge's approach is still being built, and construction is ongoing.

The 2017–18 Mukhya Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna covered the bridge (causeway to bridge). On February 5, 2020, Akshay Construction received the work order through the tendering process for a price of Rs. 1.84 crores. From Surat, Green Design and The Mukhya Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna for 2017–18 provided coverage for the bridge (causeway to bridge). On February 5, 2020, Akshay Construction received a work order valued at Rs. 1.84 crores through the tendering process. Green Design and Engineering, based in Surat, participated in the design.