A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Bombay High Court seeking action against the State government and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials for the collapse of the British-era bridge on the Mumbai-Goa highway on August 2.
A division bench of Justices V M Kanade and M S Sonak heard the PIL filed by Mahad resident Pranay Sawant, a former Maharashtra Assembly member, and is slated to be heard on August 12.
The PIL wants homicide charges to be invoked against the bureaucrats who conducted the structural audit of the Mumbai-Goa national highway. The petition also urges the court to direct NHAI to pay for the expenses incurred in the rescue operations from August 2.
Mr. Sawant also claimed that he had been corresponding with various government departments since 2012 asking the authorities to stop traffic on the old bridge as it was not fit for transport. However, he was later told that the bridge was fit for use after repairs.
The petitioner, who lost a relative who was travelling to Mahad at the time of the bridge collapse, also hoped that either the Supreme Court or the Bombay High Court would monitor the structural audits of all bridges that the government has now undertaken since the tragedy.
Over 26 people have lost their lives and 16 more continue to be missing after the old bridge linking Mahad to Poladpur in Raigad district on the Mumbai-Goa national highway was washed away due to heavy rains and the Savitri river in spate. Two State Transport buses and some private cars, including a Chevrolet Tavera, were washed away with the bridge.
The National Disaster Response Force along with the Navy and the Coast Guard continues to carry out search and rescue operations in the river and hopes to retrieve more missing people and the vehicles. Some bodies washed away by the force of the river water were found more than 130 km away in the neighbouring Ratnagiri district.
The Maharashtra government has announced a judicial probe into the bridge collapse as the bridge was certified to be safe following a structural audit conducted in May this year.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has also ordered a structural audit of all 36 British-era bridges on the Mumbai-Goa national highway and asked the Highways Authority to restore the bridge before August 25.
