WHY BRIDGES KEEP FALLING ACROSS INDIA

About 2,000 bridges are reported to have failed in India during 1977-2017. One essential remedy would be a systematic bridge health monitoring system with regular inspections

- AMITABHA GHOSHAL

THE popular English nursery rhyme treats a bridge falling as a matter of little consequence and something almost amusing. But for the builders, bridge failure is a matter of very serious concern. Bridges being vital and busy transport links, their failure can result in a grievous loss of lives and money, and are blots on the civil engineering profession.

Unfortunately for us, the failure of bridges has become routine, with alarming repetition. They happen during construction, after construction, with traffic, and during different stages of its service life. Failure during construction is generally due to the use of poor material, poor workmanship, or inadequate supervision. Failure during service is due to poor upkeep, or rather, the absence of inspection and maintenance, and a failure to remedy observed defects in time.

Bridges, particularly long-span ones, are undoubtedly some of the man's greatest physical creations. Some of them have become icons for their cities-the Tower Bridge for London and Howrah Bridge for Kolkata. And yet, some 2,000 bridges are reported to have collapsed in our country between 1977 and 2017, and the rate of failures is only climbing.

The opening of a bridge is celebrated with a lot of fanfare in the presence of politicians and bureaucrats, only to be forgotten thereafter. The engineers responsible are only visible and called upon to explain failures and assign responsibility to some lower-level minions.