Modi Orders Investigation Into Deadly India Bridge Collapse

Bibhudatta Pradhan
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered an extensive inquiry into a bridge collapse in western India that killed at least 135 people over the weekend in one of the country’s deadliest accidents in a decade.

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Modi, on Tuesday, visited the site where the colonial-era bridge had once stood in the Morbi district of his home state of Gujarat. He reviewed the situation and instructed the authorities to stay in touch with the affected families to ensure they receive all possible help, according to a statement from his office.

The “need of the hour is to conduct a detailed and extensive inquiry which will identify all aspects relating to this mishap,” the statement quoted Modi as saying.

The accident comes just weeks ahead of state elections, which are expected to be held by December. Modi has been on the campaign trail in Gujarat over the last week, touting the state and country’s manufacturing and infrastructure development push.

Opinion polls, the most recent published early last month, show Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party projected to win 135 to 143 seats in the 182-member state assembly. That would be a jump from its current narrow majority of 92 seats.

However, with the upstart Aam Aadmi Party set to contest the state elections, the BJP may lose some vote share with the relative newcomer likely to eat into the main opposition Congress party.

Soaring inflation and unemployment will have a bigger impact on the ballot than the weekend’s tragedy, said Sanjay Kumar, a professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi.

A survey in the state by the Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, published on Oct. 31. had half the respondents citing price rise as most important electoral issue. Another 15% raised unemployment and 6% referred to poverty.

The tragedy has also raised concern over the viability of the country’s infrastructure push. Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has been increasing spending on infrastructure to create new jobs and bolster an economy that was hit by an aggressive wave of Covid-19 infections.

The bridge had been opened to the public last week after months of renovation.

Nine people, including four officials of a firm that managed the bridge, have been arrested, Ashok Kumar Yadav, a senior state police official, said on Monday. Technical and structural flaws and some maintenance issues appear likely to have been behind the accident, he said.

(Updates with analyst comment in sixth paragraph)

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