Three cases of bridge collapse in a month raises alarm
INFRASTRUCTURE development is central to the Modi government’s roadmap for achieving its lofty goal — Viksit Bharat by 2047. The world’s fourth-largest economy is laying emphasis on building an infrastructure ecosystem that is sustainable, resilient and future-ready. Big-ticket projects pertaining to roads, bridges, railways, airports and waterways are aimed at enhancing connectivity as well as trade. However, three incidents of bridge collapse in less than a month indicate that everything is not hunky-dory on this front. Ten persons were killed after a portion of a four-decade-old bridge collapsed in Gujarat’s Vadodara district on Wednesday. Apparently, there were lapses in maintenance — despite telltale signs of structural decay, the bridge was neither closed nor repaired on priority. Last month, four persons died after an iron pedestrian bridge, which had been declared unsafe, gave way in Pune (Maharashtra); a newly repaired bridge fell apart in Assam’s Cachar district, and it was nothing but a miracle that no lives were lost.