Morbi Tragedy | To enhance public safety, India must adopt a zero tolerance policy towards corruption

The Morbi bridge collapse in Gujarat killed at least 140 people and left several injured. (Image source: AFP/File)

The collapse of the Morbi bridge in Gujarat on October 30, in which at least 140 people lost their lives, was a catastrophe waiting to happen. The disturbing part is that such tragedies are likely to take place in other parts of India. This is not just because of the old, creaky, overstretched infrastructure — roads, bridges, dams, or multi-storeyed buildings — that has  been collapsing, but, worryingly, in recent years many newly-constructed or under-construction projects have caved in without notice, killing and seriously injuring hundreds, if not thousands of hapless citizens.

Right from the 1954 Mahakumbh stampede at Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh which killed 800 to the 1956 twin train accidents (112 killed at Mahboob Nagar in Andhra Pradesh, and 144 killed at Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu) that led to Lal Bahadur Shastri resign as railway minister, it is a long list.

The recurrence of tragedies should lead to serious introspection, and puts a question mark on the quality of infrastructure across India. It exposes the safety standards adopted, and the upkeep and maintenance practices followed.

Why Such Disasters

A callous attitude towards safety and maintaining standards, the infamous jugaad mentality, and collusion have increased the frequency of such disasters. A bigger reason is the lack of accountability of engineers and contractors. While doctors, chartered accountants, or advocates have governing bodies and codes of conducts, the entry barriers here are low, regulations are sparse, and enforcement of existing norms are loose. Even in the rare occasions when engineers or contractors are pulled up, weak provisions in the law either delay justice, or, worse, it is denied.

What further complicates the scene is that the maintenance of such infrastructure comes under various authorities. For example, railway bridges come under the Indian Railways, bridges on the National Highways come under the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), bridges in the border areas come under the Border Roads Organisation, bridges on the state highways come under the respective state Public Works Departments (PWD) — this fine-slicing goes further down to the district, municipal, and panchayat level. Between these many ‘authorities’, responsibility and safety are compromised.

The Morbi Tragedy

In the Morbi tragedy, there are several causes being attributed to the collapse of a bridge that was reopened to the public after renovation on October 26: from overcrowding on the bridge to poor repair work. A good way to find the root cause would be a judicial enquiry duly assisted by competent expert structural engineers as amicus curiae.

For such an old bridge, it is improbable that design calculations and permissible load factors would be available in a small-town municipal office. However, many engineers whom this author spoke to suggested that one of the reasons for the collapse could be that there were more than 500 people on a 150-year-old bridge not meant to take that load.

Designing a bridge is a complicated (even niche) speciality that even big public sector entities lack superior design engineers. If this is the case, one can only wonder how poor the situation would be in a municipal office. Given this it is to be probed as to what level of expertise went into the renovation of the Morbi bridge and what standard was adopted for its approval.

Going Ahead

That the October 30 tragedy took place in Gujarat which follows global best practices through the Gujarat Professional Civil Engineers Act, 2006, and has an empowered Gujarat Professional Civil Engineering Council under the Act is a cruel irony. Meanwhile, the making of a national level civil professional engineers Act is a work in slow progress.

In the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution there is a solitary mention of ‘bridges,’ in item 13 of  List 2 (state list). This must change. At the earliest bridges must be brought under List 3 (Concurrent List), so that the Centre can bring global best practices for safety and maintenance of bridges.

It is time for the Union government to enact a national bridge safety statute and policy with zero tolerance of incidents, accidents and fatalities. India must take a leaf from immensely successful Sweden’s Parliament mandated ‘Vision Zero - no fatalities or serious injuries through road accidents’.

India needs a multidisciplinary ‘Bridge Council of India’ to guide the Centre and states on best practices, technology, materials, methodologies, and other aspects of bridge construction and maintenance. This body could also provide accreditation to engineers, and contractors.

The country is in dire need of a technology-driven, consolidated, national register of bridges, cascading down to states, cities, and villages. Currently, we have no clue how many bridges, of what type, of what vintage, and in what condition they are.

India’s bridges are currently in the unsafe hands of lower-level engineers and compromised contractors. This is not to paint every official with the same brush, but when it comes to the safety and security of public life, a few bad apples can lead to such tragedies. Bridge experts concur that if inspections are conducted scientifically, by qualified engineers, and is followed up with proper maintenance, bridges will survive longer, and disasters will be rarer.

Indian statues, policies, and regulations falter at enforcement. The time for shortcuts are over — exemplary, swift punishment, prohibitory financial damages, and a ban for life from the profession, is the only workable nostrum.