Gujarat: Congress launches `Nyay Yatra' for victims of major tragedies in state

Morbi (Gujarat), Aug 9 (PTI) The Gujarat Congress on Friday launched a 14-day `Nyay Yatra', a foot march, here to seek justice for the victims of four major tragedies that took place in the BJP-ruled state over the last five years.

The Bharatiya Janata Party was shielding the real culprits of these incidents including the recent Rajkot game zone fire, it alleged.

Congress Legislative Party leader in the assembly Amit Chavda, Seva Dal president Lalji Desai and MLA Jignesh Mevani launched the campaign. The march will cover nearly 350 kilometers before reaching Gandhinagar on August 23, said party spokesperson Manish Doshi.

Family members of the deceased from these tragedies -- 2019 Takshashila fire incident in Surat, Morbi bridge collapse of 2022, and this year's Vadodara boat capsizing incident and TRP game zone fire in Rajkot -- will join the the Yatra, he said.

Mevani said that nearly 200 people died in these incidents due to the rampant corruption under the BJP government.

"We are taking out this Nyay Yatra because people do not trust ongoing investigations. Victims of Morbi bridge collapse demand that the probe be conducted by the CBI, or some non-corrupt officers. We will get justice the day all the real culprits, be it IAS, IPS officers, businessmen or BJP leaders, are behind bars," said the MLA who is the working president of Gujarat Congress.

"We demand that all the cases be tried in fast-track courts. The kin of the victims must get a minimum compensation of Rs 1.5 crore because the compensation of Rs 4 lakh is too meagre. The Morbi Nagarpalika office-bearers should be booked for murder," Mevani added.

On July 6, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had visited Ahmedabad and met the family members of some of the victims, promising to raise their grievances in Parliament.

Twenty-two students died when a fire broke out on the illegally constructed top floor of the Takshashila commercial complex in Surat city on May 24, 2019.

As many as 135 persons died after a British-era suspension bridge over the Machchhu river in Morbi town collapsed on October 30, 2022. The bridge was maintained by Oreva Group. The company's CMD Jaysukh Patel was granted bail in March this year.

In January this year, 12 school students and two teachers died when a boat capsized in Motnath lake in Vadodara city. The partners of Kotia Projects, to which the municipal corporation had awarded the contract to maintain and operate the lakefront project, were subsequently arrested.

As many as 27 persons including four children were killed in a massive fire at a game zone in Rajkot city on May 25. PTI