• One hundred thirty-five individuals were killed in the catastrophe.
• The majority of them women and children, including Vandana’s father and two brothers.
• In Gujarat’s Morbi region, the 19th-century bridge was a well-liked tourist destination and had recently undergone renovations before it collapsed.

“When my father was still living, he would advise me to sit down and study every day. Who will now watch out for me doing that?”

The 15-year-old Vandana Makwana struggles to contain her tears as she talks about her father Mahesh, who passed away on 30 October when a footbridge collapsed in Gujarat, a state in western India, sending hundreds of people into a river.

One hundred thirty-five individuals were killed in the catastrophe, the majority of them women and children, including Vandana’s father and two brothers.

In Gujarat’s Morbi region, the 19th-century bridge was a well-liked tourist destination and had recently undergone renovations before it collapsed.

Officials from the Morbi municipality said that Oreva, the private company hired to maintain the bridge, had not received a safety certificate before it was reopened after the incident. Additionally, they insisted that they were ignorant of the bridge’s public accessibility despite the fact that thousands of individuals had been seen at the location.

Police officers watch the scrap metal that was left behind after the collapse — including bits of broken wires, aluminium flooring sheets, and bolts — night and day at the accident scene. The police investigation’s evidence now includes this debris.

Nothing at the location serves as a memorial or a reminder that hundreds of people’s lives were abruptly transformed a month ago on a Sunday evening.

However, the hurt and rage still exist for the families of the victims.

Vashram Makwana, Vandana’s grandfather, queries why high officials haven’t yet been targeted by the police.

He inquires as to how the bridge could have been run without their knowing.

The deputy superintendent of the Morbi police, PK Jadeja, stated in Gujarati that he was unable to comment on the “higher officials” being questioned at this time regarding the “matter.”

Days after the disaster, the state administration fired the mayor of Morbi.

Police detained nine persons, including Oreva employees, ticket takers, and bridge security guards, a day after the catastrophe. After their bail request was denied, they are currently in custody.

Nevertheless, Jaysukhbhai Patel, the owner of Oreva, has not yet been mentioned in the case or interrogated. In actuality, Mr. Patel has not been spotted in public since the event, despite being captured on camera applauding the calibre of the repair work at the moment the bridge was reopened.

Prosecutors in a nearby court filed a forensic report that said that the rusty wires holding the bridge had not been altered during repairs. More than 3,000 tickets had been sold on the day of the catastrophe, even though the bridge could only hold about 100 people at once.

The Morbi municipality has come under harsh criticism from the Gujarat High Court, which has also demanded that the administration provide a detailed justification for the actions taken against those responsible for monitoring the bridge’s condition.

Additionally, it requested that the government increase the victims’ compensation because it was “abysmally on the lower side.”

Mahesh Manvadariya and his wife Bintu could find some solace in this order. Jiyansh, a five-year-old who lost both of his parents at Morbi, is now in their care.

Mr. Manvadariya claims he wants to give Jiyansh a good education but that the monthly payment of 3,000 rupees ($36; £30) provided to children left orphaned by the tragedy is insufficient. He now anticipates a pay raise from the government.

As she describes attempting to respond to Jiyansh’s inquiries concerning his parents’ whereabouts, Bintu sobs.

We informed him that his parents had visited his grandmother and were now famous.

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