Ahmedabad: Hours after the portion of a bridge collapsed in Gujarat’s Vadodara killing 10 persons, opposition parties on Wednesday said negligence on the part of the state government was resulting in such incidents, and sought Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel’s resignation.

They said although some leaders of opposition parties had earlier drawn the attention of the administration to the condition of the bridge, it did not pay heed and failed to act.

Ten persons, including two siblings, were killed and nine others rescued, some of them with injuries, after several vehicles plunged into the Mahisagar river when a portion of a four-decade-old Gambhira bridge collapsed in Vadodara district around 7.30 am on Wednesday, officials said.

Speaking about the tragedy, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Amit Chavda said, “Local people, including Congress leaders, had represented many times to the administration that the condition of the bridge was very bad. We had said that its life was over as it was 40 years old.”

“The government had, however, not paid any attention to the representations. The bridge has collapsed due to the criminal negligence of the state government. We demand inquiry and punishment for those responsible for such grave negligence,” he said.

As incidents of bridge collapse are rising in the state, the government should conduct an audit of all old bridges. The report should be made public so that people know whether they should travel on that bridge or not, he said.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Gujarat unit president Isudan Gadhvi demanded resignation of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.

“Many people have died in Gujarat due to corruption of the BJP government. This is not an accident, this is a man-made disaster. People have lost their lives due to the state government’s negligence,” he said.

Former Gujarat CM Shankarsinh Vaghela said this is a clear case of criminal negligence.

Social workers had flagged the bad condition of the bridge in 2022. They had sought rebuilding of this bridge. However, the government did not do anything. This is a case of criminal negligence, he said.

“There should be a court-monitored probe and those responsible for this tragedy should be punished for this,” Vaghela, who heads the Praja Shakti Democratic Party, said.