As the suspension bridge at Morbi in Gujarat got collapsed yesterday killing at least 141 people, a revisit to such fatal accidents seems to be necessary.
In the last 10 years, our progress is marred with fatal bridge accidents that couldn’t find any shoulder to put the accountability on. In most of the cases, investigations remained inconclusive, or the arrested went unpunished. ?
As the suspension bridge at Morbi in Gujarat got collapsed yesterday killing at least 141 people, a revisit to such fatal accidents seems to be necessary.
In the last few years, India has been home to several such incidents that not only shook the stability of the Nation, rather it also had spread fear among the people. Sometimes, these incidents led to the death of construction workers, sometimes, it ended killing hundreds of civilians.
Here we will look back the major incidents of flyover and bridge collapses that happened across India in the last 10 years. A revisit is required perhaps to understand better where we are going wrong.
In March, 2012, Pauri district in Uttarakhand witnessed an extremely fatal collapse of an under-construction bridge where six people got killed and 18 others injured. The bridge over Alkananda river fell down when the labourers were working there.
However, the reason for the bridge collapse couldn’t be found immediately. The then Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna wanted to look into the reasons of the collapse- however, nothing much came out of it.
Around 10 labourers got killed and six others injured when an under-construction flyover bridge in Surat got collapsed in June, 2014. The collapsed flyover was cable-wire bridge connecting Parle point area to Adajan near Tapi river.
Taking cognizance of the incident, Surat Police booked 18 people for culpable homicide including three engineers who were part of the bridge department of city municipal corporation. The Police in its investigation found that both the design and the material used for the constructions were responsible for the collapse.
It also referred to the nepotism and gross negligence that resulted into the fatal accident.
On March 31, 2016, one of the most fatal flyover collapses shook the veins of the city of joy – Kolkata. The falling down of Vivekananda Road flyover immediately took away 28 lives leaving more than 100 injured.
A Hyderabad based company IVRCL was given the responsibility of constructing the 2 km long flyover. However, it went through several delays. One of the representative officials of the company told the reporters that the collapse was an ‘Act of God’ and denied any responsibility.
16 persons though were later arrested on the charges of culpable homicide, they are out on bail. ?
In August, 2016, an unfortunate flyover collapse in Raigad district led to death of at least 40 people. In 11 days’ long search some bodies could be recovered whereas the rest couldn’t ever be identified.
The incident occurred when two state transport buses and 10 private vehicles were crossing the bridge over Savitri River. Due to monsoon, the river was also swollen and the collapse of the flyover washed away the lives.
The 106-year-old British era bridge while was flushed away, there was hardly any accountability fixed.
A Portuguese era bridge at Curchorem village in Goa got collapsed in May, 2017 leading to the death of at least 2 people as several went missing.
The footbridge over Sanvordem river was not in a good condition either. It fell down when state fire and emergency service was working to rescue a man who jumped into the river possibly in a suicide attempt.
Around 50 people gathered near and on the bridge to see the rescue operation when the metal bridge got collapsed. However, still it is unknown whether anybody was held accountable for this incident.
The city of temples Varanasi witnessed one of the most horrific flyover crashes in recent times in 2018. A part of a flyover over the road that leads to Varanasi-Allahabad highway was crashed down killing at least 18 people and injuring several others.
The portion of the flyover that got collapsed was built by a state-run cooperation. Several mini buses, two wheelers and cars reportedly came under the debris of the bridge that survived only three months after being inaugurated.
Immediately after, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath formed a committee to investigate the incident and asked them to submit the reports within 48 hours. Seven engineers and contractors got arrested in connection with it.
However, this list of unfortunate incidents further provokes the question- Who should be held accountable? What is the cost of the lives that we lost? Who is going to pay for that?