Uddhav Sena, Congress hold Mahayuti govt responsible for Kundamala bridge collapse

Indian Express

10 hours ago

A day after four tourists were killed and 38 injured in the iron bridge collapse in Maval taluka of Pune district, the Shiv Sena (UBT) attacked the Mahayuti government, blaming it for being 'negligent' which led to the loss of lives.
The Sena (UBT) singled out District Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar, saying he was not concerned with serious issues affecting the people. 'Ajit Pawar is the District Guardian Minister of Pune. He should take responsibility for yesterday's tragedy in Maval. Otherwise, who is responsible for the tragedy? Is it not the duty of the District Guardian Minister to ensure a safe bridge for the people? Ajit Pawar is most of the time seen either before TV cameras or is fast asleep when it comes to serious issues affecting the people,' said Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut.
Raut alleged the Mahayuti government was not serious about the safety of citizens. 'They approved the new bridge and the funds for it only on paper but failed to start work,' he said.
Raut said the Mahayuti government has money to buy votes, MLAs and MPs, and get votes through the Ladki Bahin Yojana. 'But the government did not have money to repair one bridge which was declared unsafe by the authorities. This is how the Mahayuti government functions. It is anti-people and anti-Maharashtra government,' he said.
Criticising PWD Minister Ravindra Chavan, Raut said, 'On July 11, 2024, Chavan as minister had sanctioned the road and bridge work in Kundamala area. Whom did he inform about it? He sent a letter to a local leader. The letter said Rs 80,000 had been sanctioned when the bridge work was approved for Rs 8 crore. It only reflects how serious the Mahayuti government is when it comes to people's safety and sanctioning funds for the purpose.'
Raut said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered a probe into the bridge tragedy. 'Actually, a probe should be ordered against the Chief Minister. This is because since he has become the chief minister, Maharashtra is witnessing one tragedy after another,' he said, adding Sunday's incident was a result of corruption and negligence on part of the state government.
Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said, 'A couple of years back when the bridge over Vashishti river got washed away, a structural audit of all the bridges in the state was ordered by the government. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should now reveal whether the structural audit of this bridge was also ordered and what steps were taken. If not, then he should reveal why the structural audit was not ordered.'
Chavan said the government is now claiming that the bridge had been declared dangerous for use. 'If that was the case, then why was it kept open for pedestrians and two-wheelers,' he asked.
Chavan said why no security personnel or police personnel were posted to keep tourists away from the 'dangerous' bridge. 'What were the police and district officials doing,' he asked.
Chavan said last year when a 100-year-old bridge in Karad had developed problems, they had immediately got funds sanctioned and got it repaired. The former CM said Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar, MP Shrirang Barne and MLA Sunil Shelke should take responsibility for the loss of four lives.
Reacting to the allegations made by the Opposition, Fadnavis, while speaking to reporters in Palghar, said, 'On June 10, the work order was issued for a parallel new bridge. Even if work on the new bridge had been taken up, it could not have been completed in such a short span of time.'
The chief minister said Pune district collector Jitendra Dudi told him the bridge had been declared unsafe. 'Even villagers had put up boards warning tourists about the bridge… Unfortunately, the tourists went there thinking that it was not that unsafe,' he said.
Fadnavis said the district collector told him there were 500 spots in the district which are visited by tourists during monsoon. 'We will have to ensure their safety at all such spots,' he said.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
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