For years, Sonalben Ramesh Padhiyar, 32, and Ramesh, 32, the parents of four girls, had prayed for a son. Their wish — in a country that still prefers sons over daughters — came true two years ago when Sonal gave birth to a boy, Naitik. The couple were elated and decided that they would go to the Bapa Sitaram temple in Bagdana village of Bhavnagar district in Gujarat to thank the saint, Bapa Sitaram, for answering their prayers. They never got around to doing this until July 9. That morning, the two of them got into a car with Naitik, their 4-year-old daughter, Vedika, and three relatives, and set out from Dariyapur in Vadodara district.
Five kilometres from their house was the four-decade-old Mujpur-Ghambira bridge, which had repeatedly been flagged as structurally unsafe by the residents of Vadodara.
A trembling Sonal recalls the moments they drove over the bridge and a part of it gave way. “I was sitting in the rear seat,” she says. “When we were on the bridge, the car suddenly plunged into the Mahisagar river below. After we hit the water, I somehow managed to smash the rear windshield and get out. I stood on top of the sinking car and clutched some cables that were dangling from the bridge. I held onto them and screamed for help for nearly two hours.”
Sonal was the only family member to survive the incident. The tragedy, which the Gujarat government said occurred owing to structural failure, claimed 20 lives and left four injured. One person remains missing.
Sitting on the floor of a relative’s house with one bandaged arm and a bruised forehead and legs, Sonal says she screamed, “Bachao! Maro dikro doobi gayo, maro gharwalo doobi gayo (Save me! My son has drowned; my husband has drowned)”. Bystanders on the riverbank and the remaining portion of the bridge recorded videos of her, but no one came to her rescue. A video showing her pleading with onlookers to save her family went viral online.
Sonal is grief-stricken and also worried. As Ramesh was the sole breadwinner of the family, she says she will now have to figure a way of providing for her three remaining daughters and ageing in-laws. Pulling her ghunghat (head covering) over her head, she cries remembering how help arrived late. “By then the river had nothing to give me back except bodies,” she says.
Sonalben Ramesh Padhiyar managed to save herself but lost her husband, son, and daughter in the bridge collapse.
| Photo Credit:
Vijay Soneji
A crumbling bridge
The Vadodara district collector, Anil Dhameliya, says rescue teams recovered 12 bodies and rescued five people on the day of the tragedy. The following day, they retrieved six more bodies. On the third day, they recovered one body. One of the injured victims died during treatment.
The Mujpur-Ghambira bridge serves as a vital link between central Gujarat and the Saurashtra region to the west. Construction of the bridge began in 1981, and it was officially opened to the public in 1985. It is an 832-metre-long bridge with 23 spans. (A span is the horizontal space between two supports of a structure.) Many commuters, especially heavy vehicles, preferred using this bridge, which helped them bypass the toll on the Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressway. With the bridge closed after the incident, the only way to reach Saurashtra from central Gujarat is now through Vasad town, an extra 50 km.
Dhameliya says the bridge collapsed at around 7.40 a.m. “The community was the first responder. The police and ambulances reached within 10 minutes of the incident. Rescue teams arrived at the site by 8.20 a.m.,” he says. Officials say it took some more time to rescue the survivors.
Editorial | Bridge too far: On the bridge collapse in Vadodara
In 2017, the Opposition Congress and many residents of Vadodara flagged concerns regarding the safety of the bridge. They say they had also called for a ban on heavy vehicles on the bridge. “The bridge had developed cracks and shook whenever a heavy vehicle passed,” says district panchayat member, Harshadsinh Parmar.
Sonal’s father-in-law, Ravjibhai, 72, says they begged the government to repair the “crumbling bridge”, but their requests were ignored. Ravjibhai has lost not only his son and two grandchildren, but also his two sons-in-law and a distant relative in the tragedy.
“Ramesh was my only son. Naitik was born after years of prayers,” Ravjibhai says as he greets relatives, residents, and local leaders who have come to offer their condolences. “My wife was in shock on receiving the news and collapsed. She had to be hospitalised. My entire family is gone and the government is responsible for the incident,” he says.
Dhameliya accepts that residents had repeatedly raised concerns about the bridge’s deteriorating condition with local officers. “While some repair work had been carried out, the State government had also proposed constructing a new bridge after visits from technical teams,” he says.
In response to initial findings of negligence, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel suspended four officials from the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department. “Wherever lapses have come to light, action has been taken. The government will not hesitate to take further necessary measures,” said Patel, who holds the R&B Department portfolio.
State Health Minister Rushikesh Patel, who is also a government spokesperson, said that a high-level probe was being conducted by the R&B Department. “As per the committee’s initial findings, the collapse occurred due to ‘crushing of the pedestal and articulation’,” the Minister said, without offering any further explanation. He said that a detailed report would be submitted to the Chief Minister within 30 days.
A view of the bridge after the tragedy.
| Photo Credit:
VIJAY SONEJI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bhupendra Patel announced ex gratia amounts of ₹2 lakh and ₹4 lakh, respectively, for the families of the deceased, and ₹50,000 for each injured person.
On July 13, the Chief Minister approved ₹212 crore for the construction of a new two-lane bridge over the Mahisagar river, which will run parallel to the collapsed structure. He says the project will be completed in 18 months.
Ignoring concerns
On the third day after the incident, National Disaster Response Force personnel continue to carry out rescue operations with quiet determination. Some of them wade waist-deep in the water, others carry stretchers, and a few board inflatable boats to continue the search for the missing. Officers oversee the operations from a tent put up on the banks of the river.
When one of the teams brings back a body, Parmar points towards it and says, “This could have been prevented if the bridge had been closed to vehicles years ago. In so-called progressive Gujarat, it is taking them more than three days to carry out rescue operations.”
Social activist Lakhan Darbar, founder of a group called Yuva Sena in Vadodara, says the issue of safety first gained attention in August 2022. Parmar, who is also a Yuva Sena member, submitted a written complaint about the bridge’s condition to officials from the R&B Department and provided representations to the district collector.
“There was no response to Parmar’s complaint and representations,” he says. “So I took it up with a department officer. He acknowledged the risks, but no action followed.”
Darbar also shares an audio recording of his conversation with the R&B department officer. In the clip, Darbar is heard saying that the department should either repair or reconstruct the bridge given the dangers it posed to commuters. “People’s lives are in danger but no action has been taken yet. We will sit on a fast if steps are not taken,” he is heard saying.
The officer is heard responding that a survey by a private consultant had also flagged concerns. He admits that the bridge may not last much longer. “Even we believe that the bridge may not survive for long… how can we just shut the bridge? We have informed our superiors. A proposal to either rebuild or strengthen the structure has been sent. Our design team will inspect it,” the official says.
Where the light has gone out
Bamangam is located on one side of the bridge. There are no street lights here. Villagers use torches and mobile phones at night to navigate their way.
Jayantibhai Rathod, a daily wage worker, sits outside his house in near-total darkness. His son, Atul, 21, had lost his life in the bridge collapse. Two other men from the village, Mohan Chavda and Dilip Padiyar, also died in the incident. All three of them were travelling together on a motorcycle to Mujpur to report for work at their respective companies, says Rathod.
He says Atul had joined a pharmaceutical company after a month-long internship only six days before the incident. “All my three children studied at night using lanterns. Atul studied very hard and we were thrilled when he got the job. I was relieved that he would share familial responsibilities. But god took him away,” says Rathod.
About 200 m from Rathod’s house is Mohan Chavda’s house at the edge of a village pond. It is locked. When the hospital handed over Mohan’s body to his family, they took it to his brother’s house, which was safer and easier to reach.
“We got our daughter married in February and had to repay a loan of ₹1.75 lakh. Mohan was planning to withdraw part of his provident fund to clear the debt and had been anxious about it,” says his wife, Sitaben.
Falling bridges
The Opposition parties in Gujarat have remained united in their condemnation of the BJP government. Former Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela launched a scathing attack against the government, claiming that the tragedy is the “price of the BJP’s 30-year misrule.” Congress leaders Amit Chavda and Manish Doshi demanded a high-level judicial probe, and Supriya Shrinate said that the “hollow ‘Gujarat Model’ is another name for corruption”. The Aam Aadmi Party’s Isudan Gadhvi called it “a man-made disaster.”
The Trinamool Congress also criticised the government, recalling that a British-era suspension bridge in Morbi, Gujarat, had collapsed three years ago, killing at least 135 people. The party questioned the State’s infrastructure and called for accountability. “Is this the much-celebrated “Gujarat Model” that PM @narendramodi continues to champion? Will this too be dismissed as an ‘Act of God’ or will you finally accept it for what it is: AN ACT OF FRAUD!” said its post on X.
At least six bridges have collapsed since 2021 in Gujarat. The Morbi incident took place in 2022. In June 2023, a newly constructed bridge on the Mindhola river in Tapi district collapsed; no casualties were reported. In September that year, four people were injured when a portion of an old bridge on the Bhogavo river in Surendranagar district gave way after a 40-tonne dumper attempted to cross it. In August 2024, a small bridge over the Bhogavo river, connecting Habiyasar village to Chotila town in Surendranagar, collapsed due to sudden water discharge from an overflowing dam. No fatalities were reported.
Out of the 7,000 bridges in the State that have been surveyed, the government has identified the ones that need repairs or need to be reconstructed, Minister Patel said.
Since the incident, the government has shut down five bridges — two in Morbi district and three in Surendranagar district — on the Narmada canal network. Authorities have also restricted heavy vehicle movement on four bridges and listed 36 others for urgent repairs. After the collapse, the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited, which oversees the canal system, conducted technical assessments of over 2,110 bridges located across national highways, State highways, and rural roads.
Parmar is unimpressed. “They have decided to construct a new bridge only after all these lives were lost. They ignored repeated requests from the locals to check these bridges. Will this government respond to people’s concerns only after deaths occur,” he asks.
deshpande.abhinay@thehindu.co.in
