Morbi bridge tragedy: '50 pc of interim compensation for victims deposited'

Oreva Group has deposited 50 per cent of the interim compensation amount for the victims of the Morbi cable bridge collapse tragedy the Gujarat High Court was told on MondayThe company told the division bench of acting Chief Justice A J Desai and Justice Biren Vaishnav that the first instalment 50 per cent of the total amount was deposited on March 14 and the rest would be paid on or before April 11Oreva Group Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt Ltd was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Britishera bridge on the Machchhu river in Morbi that collapsed on October 30 2022 killing 135 people and leaving 56 others seriously injuredThe high court is hearing a suo motu on its own Public Interest Litigation PIL on the tragedyOn Monday the HC took on record the affidavit of Oreva Group and granted the company time it had sought to deposit the remaining amount The bench kept the matter for further hearing on April 18During an earlier hearing the HC had directed the company whose Managing Director Jaysukh Patel has been named the main accused in the bridge collapse case and is currently in judicial custody to double the amount of interim compensation it had proposed to pay to the kin of the deceased and injuredThe company had proposed to pay Rs 5 lakh to the kin of each of the 135 deceased and Rs 1 lakh to the injured as interim compensation However the HC on February 22 directed the company to double the amount to Rs 10 lakh and Rs 2 lakh respectively citing the Supreme Court judgmentsAlso read Morbi bridge collapse Gujarat govt tells HC it has framed policy for inspection upkeep of bridgesThe high court had also said half of the amount deposited by Oreva Group shall be made available to claimants straightaway in their bank accounts whereas the balance amount shall be invested in a cumulative Fixed Deposit in a nationalized bank to be made available for distribution for five years consistently with the final decision of this courtIt had directed the company to deposit Rs 5 lakh for the kin of each of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh for the injured within four weeks while the additional amount has to be paid after four more weeksThe state government had paid Rs 8 lakh compensation and the Central government Rs 2 lakh to each deceased while the injured received Rs 2 lakh eachThe HC had also directed the member secretary of the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority to ensure the disbursement is done in coordination with the District Legal Services Authority and concerned government officials after due verification of the victimsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever