India's Crumbling Bridges: A Nightmare That Must Stop Forthwith

News18

2 days ago

As is the case with most disasters in Bharat today, ill-equipped villagers from the nearby area were the first to take on the challenge of the rescue and relief operations before the team of NDRF, SDRF and fire brigade reached the site. Ironically, but for an eight-wheeled tanker precariously hanging like a Damocles' Sword tethering at the brink of the ill-fated bridge, more vehicles could have drowned in the river, resulting in a much bigger casualty.
The rescue and relief operations continued on the fourth day after the collapse of the Gambhira Bridge over the Mahi River in Padra taluka. Though the rescue teams with great difficulty have managed to retrieve all the vehicles from the riverbed, there is no final word yet on the rescued injured and the retrieval of the bodies of the dead from beneath the river.
The rescue and relief work was rendered extremely difficult with the recovery operations hindered by the incessant rains and thick mud in the riverbed.
Casualties
On Wednesday, the day of the accident, the original casualty number reported was 12 dead, including three from a family. Also, 9 injured people were saved by the rescuers. By the time I began writing this piece on July 10, the number of dead had jumped to 18. When I was close to finishing the piece on July 11, the number of dead climbed to 20 with the recovery of one more body and the death of an injured person. As I conclude the piece on July 12, the number of dead has climbed to 21, with one more death.
Sadly, even this is not likely to be the final number of casualties because at least two more persons are missing.
The Root Cause
It is too early to say with a reasonable degree of confidence why and how the Gambhira bridge collapsed. Nonetheless, one palpable reason is evident: the bridge was constructed in another era, 1985 to be precise. In those days, two-axle trucks, smaller light commercial vehicles, and lighter passenger vehicles plied Indian roads and highways, and a bridge constructed then was unfit for handling the fast-growing movement of multi-axle trucks, trailers and tankers, and passenger automobiles.
That being the case, the Gambhira bridge collapse was just waiting to happen.
But why did the bridge collapse? It will take time to unravel the root cause of the collapse. It is possible, like most bridge collapses in the country, that the root cause may not be known or may not be made public even if known.
In the interim, Rushikesh Patel, Gujarat Health Minister and government spokesperson, stated on Friday, July 11, that as per the preliminary investigation, the collapse of the Mujpur-Gambhira bridge was due to the structural failure, specifically the crushing of pedestals and articulation joints.
But the moot question that begs an answer is why too many bridges in Bharat keep tumbling down with alarming frequency?
I will address this question in a short while. Before that, here in brief are the rituals that are performed after every major accident.
Rituals Completed
As happens in the aftermath of every such tragic accident, the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, and others have expressed shock at the unfortunate accident and expressed their condolences to the affected families.
Also, true to their salt, the opposition parties of all hues have squarely blamed the government for the mishap. A spokesman of the Congress party has gone to the extent of asserting that the 'hollow Gujarat Model is another name for corruption".
advetisement
With rituals of expressing shock, offering condolences and the blame game for the accident done with, it is time for yet another ritual—the customary ex gratia announcement to the accident victims.
Pricing the Lives Lost
Next comes the existential question—how much worth is the life of hapless victims of such accidents, whose only fault was that they were crossing the bridge constructed, managed, and maintained by governments?
Make no mistake, the innocent victims are not responsible for their deaths in accidents like the latest bridge collapse. Whether their gruesome death was owing to the structural flaws in the bridge or improper maintenance, indubitably, the blame squarely rests with the government departments responsible for keeping them in safe, usable conditions.
Above being the case, what should be the reasonable compensation payable to the victims, both dead and severely injured?
The governments have put the price of life lost to a paltry sum of Rs 6 lakh to the next of the dead—Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's relief fund and Rs 4 lakh from the Gujarat government. As regards the injured, irrespective of the severity of injuries, the compensation to be dispensed is an abysmal Rs 1 lakh (Rs 50,000 each from the central and the state governments).
advetisement
I often wonder, is this the fair value of the life of innocent Bharatiyas whose death or injury is caused by the negligence of governmental authorities? I admit that no amount of monetary compensation can replace the life lost, dreams shattered, and families driven to penury, but I get genuinely baffled by the prevailing situation in Bharat for a valid reason.
Here goes my reason: victims of the latest Air India disaster at Ahmedabad will each receive Rs 1 crore from the Tata Group and almost the same amount from the insurance proceeds.
Why does Bharat price the cost of human casualties by the type of mode of travel? It must end forthwith.
It is time for a drastic overhaul of the current paradigm of the way the country values the cost of the lives of innocents dying with alarming frequency in eminently avoidable disasters on roads, highways, bridges, and railways.
It is time to shift to a just and fair compensation regime.
Case Closed
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has ordered a high-level enquiry to be conducted by the State's Roads and Buildings Department. The committee must submit its report directly to the CM within 30 days. In the interim, four junior engineers (executive engineers and assistant engineers) have been suspended.
The bridge collapse story from the breaking news on TV channels and front-page coverage in the print media has already exited the media coverage till the next such accident happens somewhere in the country.
Going by the past track record of such major accidents in the country, I can say so with reasonable degree of confidence that nothing much will emerge from the inquiry (by the department which itself was responsible for the upkeep of the bridges), no accountability will be fixed, and no real punishment meted out.
A case in point is the Morbi bridge collapse in 2022, in which 141 people lost their lives. While some individuals, including those from the contractor side, were arrested and charged in connection with the collapse, no one has been convicted or sentenced yet, and the case is ongoing. Many victims' families are still seeking justice and accountability.
The above being the case of the more serious Morbi accident, it is reasonable to expect that, sooner rather than later, the Gambhira bridge accident too will be forgotten, and the case shall stand closed.
Falling Again and Again
I wish the Gambhira bridge collapse were an isolated event. Sadly, it is not the case. Only in Gujarat, at least six bridge collapses have been chronicled since 2021, with the latest accident next only to Morbi in scale of the disaster, casualties, and damage to property.
Bridges continue to collapse in Bharat at an alarming frequency: some during construction, after completion, before inauguration, and during usage.
A typical case is that of Bihar, where nearly 2 dozen bridges collapsed in two years between 2022 and 2024, out of which 14 collapsed in just one month in 2024. Though ten engineers were suspended (suspension is no punishment), no concrete measure was taken to prevent the frequent collapse of bridges.
Bridge collapses are not confined to Bihar and Gujarat. Here are some more recent cases of 2025:
First, on June 15, 2025, an iron pedestrian bridge over the Indrayani River collapsed near Pune, Maharashtra. At least four people died, and dozens were injured. The reason for the collapse was ascribed to the overloading of the British-era Bridge.
Second, on May 3, 2025, at least three persons were killed and two others critically injured after a concrete slab fell on them during the construction of a bridge near Khannagar. The bridge was part of the six-lane road conversion from the Kathajodi riverside of NH-16 to Cuttack Netaji Bus Terminal (CNBT).
There were many more cases in 2024, 2023, and 2022—for example, Mumbai Ghatkopar (17 dead in 2024), girder failure of an under-construction railway bridge in Mizoram (30 dead in 2023), and the most gruesome Morbi bridge collapse (141 killed in 2022).
Moreover, the above is not even a partial story.
Collapses Galore
A study published in 2020 in the international journal Structure and Infrastructure Engineering reported that between 1977 and 2020, Bharat accounted for the collapse of more than 2,130 bridges (excluding culverts and pedestrian bridges), including many under construction.
Alarmingly, the study further noted that while the average life of Indian bridges was 35 years, the global average was more than 50 years. At the same time, Indian bridges reported a 25 per cent higher mortality rate than the global average.
Only God Knows
The task of preventing bridge collapses begins with knowing how many bridges Bharat has, knowing their precise conditions through structural audits and frequent inspections and taking timely preventive and corrective measures.
When Bharat does not count its bridges properly, how can it have the framework of robust maintenance? Bridge construction and maintenance in the country are in the hands of many institutions: the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Indian Railways, Border Road Organisation, State PWDs, city governments, and others.
Worse, there is no uniform practice of inspection, structural audit and taking other measures to prevent bridges from collapsing.
With each agency maintaining its own records in its own way, India lacks a unified database of bridges, making it almost impossible to have a composite picture of the total number of bridges and their condition.
Nonetheless, here is an attempt to quantify the problem—as per GoI Press Information Bureau data, as on 01.04.2019, there were 1,50,74 Bridges on Indian Railways' network. Also, as per another GoI data reported by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, as on 1-1-2019, there were 1,72,517 bridges inventoried under the Indian Bridge Management System. If one adds the number of rail and road bridges constructed since 2019 and further adds up the bridges under state and city governments and organisations like BRO, it is highly probable that the country has no less than 500,000 bridges.
Proper maintenance of 500,000 plus bridges in Indian conditions, where bridges are under continuous stress of fast-growing goods and passenger traffic (90 per cent of goods throughput and an equal percentage of passenger traffic) requires a robust maintenance paradigm and a move away from the 'Chalta Hai Attitude".
Keeping Bridges Fighting Fit
Bharat is today the most populous country in the world. It also boasts the world's second-largest urban population after China. The current urban population is more than one and a half times the total population of the USA. Also, the urban population will be 600 million by 2023 and 822-877 million by 2050.
Also, the Indian economy is growing fast. By the end of 2025, Bharat will have the fourth largest economy, by 2028 the third largest economy of the world and by 2047, it aspires to be a developed economy. Bharat also aims to be the manufacturing capital of the world.
That being the case, roads and rail bridges in India must manage more fast-growing goods and passenger traffic without the periodic shock of caving in. And to increase bridges' life, their ability to carry fast-increasing loads of traffic, the integrity and stability of the bridges must be enhanced many notches.
The reasons for bridge collapses are well known. These include the design flaws including but not limited to inadequate load-bearing capacity, improper material selection, or faulty engineering calculations compromising the structural integrity of a bridge, poor construction material and poor workmanship, comprehensive maintenance neglect and lack of proper inspection and audit, lack of upgradation in time to handle increasing traffic, overloading, and natural causes like floods and extreme weather conditions that impact the integrity of the bridges.