Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday visited the site of bridge collapse in Gujarat's Morbi and met survivors admitted in hospital. He also called for an extensive enquiry into the accident.
A suspension bridge over Machchhu river in Morbi collapsed on Sunday evening and at least 135 people have been confirmed to have died. Rescue operations are still underway in the river.
Modi in Morbi inspected the site of accident and interacted with the personnel engaged in rescue operations. He was accompanied by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.
While 135 people have been confirmed as dead, 170 have been rescued in ongoing operations. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and armed forces are engaged in rescue operations.
Officials briefed Modi about rescue operation at site of bridge collapse.
Modi called for the earliest implementation of the learnings from the enquiry into the accident.
Following the visit to the bridge collapse site, Modi also visited the Morbi Civil Hospital where the injured are admitted.
Modi also chaired a high-level meeting at Morbi to review the situation, the Prime Minister's Office said in a release.
"The need of the hour is to conduct a detailed and extensive inquiry which will identify all aspects relating to this mishap," Modi said.
Key learnings from the inquiry must be implemented at the earliest and authorities must stay in touch with the affected families and ensure that they receive all possible help in this tragic hour, he said.
The meeting was attended by CM Patel, Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi, local MLA and minister Brijesh Merja, state chief secretary Pankaj Kumar, and state Director General of Police Ashish Bhatia, among others.
Modi on Monday night chaired a meeting on the Morbi bridge collapse in Gujarat and asked authorities to extend all possible help to those affected by the tragedy, officials said.
At the meeting, which took place at the Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar, Modi, who was on a tour of Gujarat, was briefed on the relief and rescue operations at the accident site.
Modi emphasised on ensuring that those affected by the disaster get all possible assistance, the officials said.
"Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the situation in Morbi at the Raj Bhavan, Gandhinagar," an official release said.
Modi was briefed on the relief and rescue operations launched at the accident site and all aspects related to the tragedy were discussed, the release said.
The meeting was attended by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi, Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar and Gujarat DGP Ashish Bhatia along with other top officials.
Rs 2 lakh compensation to the diseased was also announced by Modi.
Earlier on Tuesday, Gujarat cabinet minister Rajendra Trivedi said, "So far, rescue teams have recovered 135 bodies while nearly 170 people, who fell into the river, were rescued alive. The kin of all the deceased have already been paid a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each as announced by the Gujarat government. A compensation of Rs 2 lakh announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be deposited soon into their bank accounts through DBT (direct bank transfer)."
(With PTI inputs)
