A man, who was part of the gathering, said that Oreva employees here are worried about their future and insecure about their jobs. “It is not as if Jaysukhbhai intentionally caused the bridge to collapse,” he added, also refusing to be identified. “He provides employment to people who do not want to work in the ceramic industry in this town,” the man said. There remains uncertainty about Jaysukhbhai’s whereabouts. Rahul Tripathi, superintendent of police of Morbi, said: “I won’t comment on his location.”

Oreva Group got the contract to maintain the cable bridge in Morbi that collapsed on Sunday, leading to the death of 135 people, including 48 children. Patel, 65, had opened the bridge for the public on October 26, the Gujarati New Year. Morbi municipality chief Sandeepsinh Jhala said on Sunday that the local body was not informed about the opening.

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In Morbi, with a population of 267,531, according to 2011 Census, Patel is a respected figure and Oreva, one of the largest companies operating in the town whose primary industry is tile-making, although there are several clock making units (also a legacy of Oreva, but more on that anon). Many intersections sport boards that say the area is maintained by Oreva Group. Local municipal authority officials said the group has always contributed towards augmenting civic amenities and also been a giver for social causes. A municipality official who asked not to be named said the group funds educational scholarships and provides free health care facilities to the poor.

The bridge

On Tuesday, Gujarat government lawyer H S Panchal, seeking the remand of four employees of Oreva Group, alleged that the Oreva Group changed only the platform of the bridge, using four-layered aluminum sheets during renovation, and that the section of the cable which snapped, causing the accident was found to be weak and rusted. Several police officials have aired the theory that the weight of the new base may have caused the cable, which was old, to snap. It isn’t clear what testing the bridge went through before it was reopened. Oreva Group has not issued an official statement about the renovation or the accident.

Oreva renovated the bridge and it was opened to the public on October 26, four days before it collapsed on Sunday. The company gave the sub-contract of ₹2 crore to a little known Dhangadhra-based contractor Devprakash Solution for repair of the 150-year-old iconic bridge that has been a major tourist attraction in Morbi.

The Morbi municipality in March this year re-engaged Oreva for the maintenance, operation and security of the bridge for 15 years. The municipality had a contract with the company between 2005 and 2018 for maintaining the bridge.

Between 2018 and 2022, the Oreva group and Morbi municipality were negotiating to renew the 2018 contract for 15 years.

Oreva is believed to have overseen an earlier renovation of the bridge in 2007.

The contract was given without inviting any tender, government lawyer Panchal informed the court on Wednesday, saying that there was “no tendering process” and that the same contractor and sub-contractor were simply signed on by the corporation.

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Patel inaugurated the bridge along with his family members on October 26. He also held a press conference ahead of it, claiming, in a now viral video, that the bridge was ready for visitors and could function without any problem for 8-10 years.

It lasted four days.

Odhavji R Patel

Long before it emerged as India’s ceramic hub post the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, Morbi was known for its clocks. The town became popular, especially for its Ajanta brand of clocks, made by a company founded by the late Odhavji R Patel, hailed as father of the Indian wall clock industry.

He began his journey as an entrepreneur in 1971, setting up a small partnership firm, Ajanta Transistor Clock Manufacturing Co. He ran the business from rented premises, manufacturing magnetic clocks with coils. In the mid-1980s, Odhavji Patel moved to quartz technology, realising quartz clocks would replace mechanical ones, and Ajanta Quartz came into being.

These clocks were simple and provided an accuracy that was earlier available only on large, expensive pendulum clocks. They did not require much maintenance and were smaller. The quartz clocks were an instant success.

Many in Morbi recall the contribution of Odhavji R Patel in putting the small industrial town on the international map. “In the 1990s, we were known across the world due to Odhavji. He provided jobs to so many locals in his company when getting a job was not easy,” said Mansukhbhai Patel, who once worked for Ajanta Quartz.

The split

Odhavji’s son Jaysukhbhai Patel founded Oreva, named after his father and mother, Reva. Oreva is mainly into the manufacture of home appliances and e-bikes. The company was formed before the partiarch’s sons parted ways about seven years ago.

“Odhavji Patel was a philanthropist who donated generously and put Morbi on the global map with Ajanta. The family members have fixed business responsibilities. The elder brother Pravin Patel and his family take care of clock manufacturing with Ajanta while Jaysukh Patel and his family look after Oreva. The third brother Bharat Patel is not very active in the family businesses,” said Shashank Dangi, president of the Morbi Wall Clock Manufacturers’ Association.

Odhavji R Patel also founded ORPAT (OR Patel) Industries, also named after himself. The company is into home appliances and wind energy and is run by Pravin Patel and his family.

Jaysukhbhai Patel has sought to follow father’s footsteps of being a philanthropist. He runs a school for poor children, has funded the building check dams, and set up a hostel for 1,500 girls in Morbi.

Oreva’s corporate office is in Ahmedabad where the family spends much of their time, making short visits to Morbi on a regular basis, according to persons close to Jaysukhbhai Patel. Oreva group has built a commercial complex in Morbi, Oreva Landmark, which houses Shiv Ajanta hotel. The hotel shut down after running for two years, while the establishment is still functional with a few retail tenants.

“Jaysukhbhai joined hands with a Kutch based group for starting a hotel chain but the venture was not successful,” said a leading industrialist from Morbi who spoke on condition of anonymity. He put the Oreva group’s turnover at around ₹700-800 crore.

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Oreva has two manufacturing facilities, one at Morbi and another one at Samakhyali in Kutch. The Kutch plant was originally planned to manufacture vitrified tiles but it was shut down due to a change in technology which made their products outdated, said a Morbi based distributor in tiles who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The company makes and sells diverse products, switches, snacks, electric bikes, electric mosquito-killing racquets, CFLs, telephones, calculators and watches, besides digital clocks.

Patel has also aired the idea of setting up a toy-making industrial park in Morbi and corresponded with the state government on this.

“He came up with the idea of a toy park. He wanted us to stop imports from China, especially plastic. His group is not into toys but he wanted the clock manufacturers here to diversify into this business. Jaysukhbhai pitched the idea to the government,” said Dangi.

Patel has also come up with the idea of converting the biodiversity-rich Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) into a massive sweet water lake, stopping sea water ingress into the salt marsh from Hadakiya Creek near Surajbari, an idea that has come in for strong criticism from environmental groups.