On Sunday (October 30), news outlet Lallantop courted controversy after it falsely attributed the Morbi bridge collapse to overcrowding caused by Chhath Puja celebrations.
An article written by one Uday Bhatnagar and published by Lallantop claimed, “There were about 500 people on the bridge at the time of the incident. They were gathered there to celebrate Chhath Puja.”
The misinformation was further amplified by AAP MLA Naresh Balyan. In a tweet, he claimed, “In Gujarat, due to the collapse of a bridge, 500 people fell into the river. All of them were celebrating Chhath. Who is responsible for such a big accident?”
This is how smartly AAP and The Lallantop has spread misinformation and later The Lallantop has changed headline.
— Vijay Patel?? (@vijaygajera) October 31, 2022
This gutter-mouth AAP MLA has still that tweet in which he has spread misinformation that people were there for Chhat Puja! pic.twitter.com/PXZThdjpsu
Lallantop, which was the purveyor of the fake news, later quietly tweaked the headline of the article and removed all references to Chhath Puja.
“Gujarat: Over 90 people dead in the Morbi bridge collapse, army and Air Force personnel are involved in rescuing civilians,” the new headline read. In the body of the article, the word ‘Chhath’ was also removed.
“They were gathered there to celebrate Chhath Puja,” the contentious line was eliminated without the publication apologizing for evoking a Hindu festival in a tragedy.
Despite retraction by Lallatop and flagging by netizens, AAP MLA Naresh Balyan did not bother to cite an apology. At the time of writing, the AAP leader had not deleted his tweet. The archived version of his tweet can be accessed here.
गुजरात में जिस पुल के गिरने से 500 लोग नदी में गिरे हैं, वो सभी छठ मना रहे थे। इतने बड़े हादसे का कौन जिम्मेदार है? पूर्वांचलियों के जान की कीमत BJP के लिए कुछ भी नही है। दिल्ली में एक सांसद यमुना घूम रहा था, अब इस घटना को सुनकर मुंह छुपा कर भाग निकलेगा। https://t.co/M2F7VAGyD1
— Naresh Balyan (@AAPNareshBalyan) October 30, 2022
Morbi Bridge Collapse: The Background of the Incident
On Sunday (October 30), a century-old suspension bridge (also called jhoolta pool) collapsed in the Morbi district of Guajarat, leading to the loss of over 135 lives.
As per reports, the bridge on Machhu dam was closed for operational use about 7 months ago. A private company by the name of Oreva Group (Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited) was given the contract in March of this year to renovate and maintain the said bridge.
The said bridge was reopened on the occasion of Gujarati New Year’s Day on October 26 this year. This was, however, done without obtaining a fitness certificate from the local Municipality, as per reports.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Gujarat government appointed a 5-member committee to investigate the incident. At the same time, a criminal case has been registered against the contractor under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 114, 304 (culpable homicide), and 308 (attempt to culpable homicide).
Over 180 persons were successfully rescued by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams. Three teams of NDRF were dispatched to Morbi from Gandhinagar and Vadodara to undertake rescue operations.
At the same time, a review meeting was held by State CM Bhupendra Patel at the Collector’s office in Morbi district along with MPs, MLAs, police, and health service officials. He had earlier visited the site of the accident on Sunday (October 30) evening.
