ગુજરાતી
English
75% of Gujarat’s bridges are extremely dangerous
281 bridges in Gujarat are still dangerous, can collapse anytime
Dilip Patel
Ahmedabad, July 9, 2025
The Central Road Inspection Agency had declared the Gambhira bridge as extremely dangerous. Still, Bhupendra Patel’s government did not take any action. The Road and Building Construction Department is under Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. It is his direct responsibility to reduce the risk of 281 bridges including the Gambhira bridge becoming dangerous.
Roads like heartbeats and bridges like pieces of heart are the foundation of the country’s pace and the vehicle of development keeps running on these foundations. Roads and bridges are the means to take the common man to the destination of development. But for the corrupt, black letters were like buffaloes.
Gujarat ranks 10th in population and 14th in density. It is 6 percent of the total area of India. Then the government claims that Gujarat is at the forefront in the country in business and income generation, setting up factories. The Annual Survey of India (ASI) had announced that Gujarat’s GDP in the year 2019-20 was 18.20 percent, fixed capital 20.60 percent and net value addition 18.74 percent.
There are fewer bridges connecting villages. There are more bridges in cities due to traffic problems and lack of time. There are 400 big bridges in 8 big cities. There are the same number of railway bridges. The number of drains is also the same. The maximum investment is being made on bridges and roads in cities compared to villages. The expensive bridges of cities are in the worst condition.
The government and local governments spend the most on roads and bridges in cities.
2018
According to a report by the Central Road Research Institute, the condition of bridges in Gujarat is dilapidated. On 18 November 2019, the government announced that 75% of the bridges in Gujarat are in a dilapidated condition. There is no assurance of their collapse. When will they collapse? Now in 2023, such bridges have started collapsing.
In 2018, 425 bridges in 17 states of the country were inspected. Of these, flaws were found in the structure of about 281 bridges. About 75% of the bridges in Gujarat were found to be in poor condition. Gujarat is at the forefront among the states with the worst bridges in the entire country. According to a report by All Gujarat News, out of 425 bridges inspected in the country, 281 had poor structure, of which 253 were built 5 to 7 years ago.
Gujarat had the highest number of bad bridges at 75%. Jharkhand was second and Punjab third. Most of the bridges have been built in recent years. CRRI had said that this condition of the new bridge is due to negligence in dam construction work. If not repaired immediately, most of the bridges will collapse in 10 to 12 years.
75 percent of weak bridges have raised new concerns. Roads and bridges are the basis of the country’s development. When these are dilapidated, development is being destroyed. The government is more responsible for this than the contractor. It is only when there is corruption that the work becomes weak and only then it gets approval and money.
There is no fixed time for when the damaged bridge will collapse. Bridges are being built on the river.
Many bridges collapse in a few months. The government is making a lot of noise about the work done at the cost of crores, but is not saying that this bridge or road will remain fine for so many years without doing anything.
100 years of age
The bridges were inspected by NHAI, state NH, PWD and local bodies. Out of the 281 dilapidated bridges, 253 are only 5 to 7 years old. The rest are up to 20 years old. According to CRRI, the life of a normal bridge is 100 years. Poor bridge material, poor design. According to the All Gujarat News report, the lower part of the bridge had become wide due to poor material. The concrete had started deteriorating. There were potholes in the lower part of the bridge. There were cracks in the beginning and end portions of the bridge. The pillars were also weaker than the prescribed standard. The joints of many bridges had started opening.
Number of bridges by state
Gujarat 250
Jharkhand 50
Punjab 40
Delhi 33
Madhya Pradesh 07
Rajasthan 06
A total of 33 bridges were inspected in Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Kerala, Tripura, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand four years ago. After that, many bridges collapsed by 2023. The government has filed a report in the Supreme Court, so this report shows the opposite situation.
Assurances not fulfilled
Many government agencies have bridges. That is why it was decided to improve them by consulting the states and working with them. What happened to what Union Minister of State for Road Transport VK Singh said?
Government data proves that more than 75% of the bridges in Gujarat were dangerous, which were built just a year ago. They collapsed at the end of the same year.
According to CRRI, the life of a normal bridge is 100 years. But surprisingly, 253 out of 281 bridges are only 5 to 7 years old. Yet those bridges were ready to collapse in the near future. It is a matter of shame that when these figures were told to the whole country, Gujarat was in the first place.
Due to substandard material, the lower parts of many bridges collapsed. The concrete had also started deteriorating. Holes were appearing in the bridge. Cracks had started appearing at the beginning and end of the bridge. The pillars had become weaker than the prescribed standards. The joints of many bridges had started opening up. Traffic was immediately stopped on 15 bridges.
1200 roads damaged
On August 23, 2022, the government announced that 1225 roads were damaged due to rain. Of these, 650 were on state highways and 175 on national highways. 400 roads were other roads controlled by panchayats. 5,414 accidents in 13 days from 7 to 20 August
415 accidents occur daily. According to a report by All Gujarat News
These are the details.
S.P. Singla Company
Haryana based contractor company S.P. Singla Construction Company. The bridge over Agwani Sultanganj Ganga river near Bhagalpur in Bihar collapsed twice in two years. This Rs 1,716 crore project has been in controversy for two years.
Narmada
This company also constructs the Narmada River Bridge on Dabhoi-Sinoor-Malasar-S Road and Narmada River. This work has been assigned at a cost of Rs 165 crore. The bridge has a length of 900 meters, width 15.65 meters, carriageway 11 meters and approach road. This company builds bridge over Mahi River.
S.P. Singla Constructions Private Limited Company has been in the construction business for the last 27 years. Its current board members and directors are Sat Paul Singla, Prem Lata, Deepak Singla, Rohit Singla and Nikita Gandhi. Registered office in Delhi and corporate office in Haryana. Unlisted private company.
8 bridges have been built by the company in Bihar. 2 in Jammu and Kashmir, 1 in Arunachal Pradesh, 6 in Odisha, 3 in Punjab, 1 in Himachal Pradesh, 2 in West Bengal, 1 in Uttar Pradesh, 1 in Maharashtra, 2 in Gujarat are being built or have been built. Currently 8 bridges are being built.
Innovation of Central Road Research Institute, equipment mounted on drone will make it easier to check the strength of bridges.
Roads should be made from waste from steel making factories. (Google translation from Gujarati)
