Bridge Failures in India: A Crisis of Accountability

This era will be recognized as a time of dismantling, fracturing, and eroding bridges. Although the bridges constructed by the British remain standing in the nation despite surpassing their expected lifespan, those erected forty years ago have begun to deteriorate. The true narrative of the development of civilizations is essentially the tale of bridge construction and establishment. It is through bridges that the contact and trade of cities, villages and society has increased. Civilizations have reached their heights by standing on the foundation of the strong structures of these bridges. These bridges are not falling by chance but it is unfortunate that bridges are falling one after the other. Due to the sudden collapse of a 4-decade-old bridge on the Mahisagar river in Vadodara district of Gujarat, many vehicles running at high speed fell into the river. 15 people died in this accident and some others were injured. The collapse of bridges one after the other has become a common thing in Bihar but this accident in Gujarat has brought back memories of the Morbi bridge accident, in which about 140 people were killed.

This accident has once again raised questions whether this accident is the result of human negligence? And who is responsible for this accident? If a bridge collapses due to natural disasters, we consider it to be the wrath of nature, but if the bridge collapses due to faulty material or lack of maintenance or human error despite repairs, then it will be called the bridge of death. The nearby population says that they had informed the administration about the bridge being dangerous and had also requested to stop movement on this bridge, but the system remained asleep, which caused the death of people. This is not the first incident of a bridge breaking. According to a study, 2,130 bridges collapsed in India in the last 10 years. Many of these bridges collapsed during construction itself. There are many reasons for the collapse of bridges, which include natural disasters, faulty material and overloading.

Just a few days ago, an old bridge built on the Indrani river in Pune collapsed. Two people lost their lives in this accident and many people were swept away. According to a report of 2024, the Ministry of Road Transport had informed the Rajya Sabha that 21 bridges collapsed on national highways in the last three years. Of these, 15 bridges were built and six were under construction. After every accident, orders are given for investigation but no one is held accountable. We have resolved to make India a developed nation by 2047 and development of infrastructure is the central point in the government's roadmap. We have the desire to become the fourth largest economy in the world but looking at the infrastructure, it seems that everything is a mess. Whenever bridges made of brick, mortar, iron, gravel, cement collapse, the wailing of the relatives of the dead people, some political noise, rituals of putting the responsibility on each other's head and saving each other by colluding are done and new bridges are built to collapse once again.

The Gujarat government has been continuously making claims of development but the collapse of bridges is a matter of concern for everyone. It is also surprising that after the accident, the villagers reached there before the administration and worked like angels and saved the lives of many people. Is the Gujarat bridge accident an act of God or an act of fraud? A lot of noise is being made about this bridge that after any contractor in the state gets an order, commission is taken from him and the contractors do the construction using substandard material, so corruption is behind the accident. Many times questions have also been raised about the design of the bridges. Recently, questions are being raised on social media about the construction of two bridges at 90 degrees. The Gujarat government has not learned any lesson from the Morbi accident. Why are new, old or under-construction bridges and flyovers collapsing in Gujarat in the last five years? Certainly accountability should be fixed in such cases. Only strict action after an accident can prevent accidents in future.

Incidents of bridge collapse are not just a joke, they reflect the serious failure of the government and administration. Crores of rupees are spent in the name of development, but when the result is that the bridge collapses as soon as it is built, it is like a joke on the common people. The question is whether our future is safe with such bridges? Every time a bridge collapses, the contractor, engineer and administration start blaming each other, but the real question is whether the correct standards were followed during the construction of the bridge? Were quality materials used? Or was everything done in a hurry to make quick money? What could be the solution? The first and most important step is to bring the contractors and engineers responsible for the bridge construction to strict accountability.

Quality construction materials should be used and complete safety and monitoring should be ensured during bridge construction. Along with this, the public and the government need to understand that development should not be just on paper, but should be at the ground level. In states where there are floods and rivers, it is very important that bridges are constructed properly. These are not just bridges, but are related to the lives of people and their daily lives. Transparency and honesty at every level is essential to ensure the quality of bridges. So the next time a bridge is built, just pray that it lasts a while, because in the current situation, bridge collapse has become a common occurrence.