Gujarat High Court: Compensation to Morbi victims abysmally low

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 24

The Gujarat High Court on Thursday asked the state government to increase the amount of compensation for the victims of the October 30 Morbi suspension bridge collapse tragedy in which 135 persons lost their lives.

Noting that the government had paid Rs 4 lakh compensation to the next of the kin of persons killed in the mishap, the Bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh Shastri said the amount was abysmally low. The court suggested Rs 10 lakh compensation should be given for each death. The Bench also ordered hike in the Rs 50,000 compensation to the injured. The HC was told that about Rs 5 crore had been received from private donors for disbursement as compensation to the victims. The government also informed the court that seven children, who lost both their parents, would get around Rs 38 lakh each. On the government scheme to pay Rs 3,000 monthly allowance to such kids till they attained the age of 18, the court said it was too meagre an amount and would get exhausted to meet the expenses of books and uniform alone.

The HC took the Morbi municipality to task for permitting Ajanta Manufacturing Co Ltd to operate the bridge for five years without any agreement. Since the first MoU on the bridge took place between the collector and the firm, the court questioned how the collector was empowered to do so when the bridge was the property of the municipality.

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