The shame of the leaning bridge: When governance collapses

The 52-year-old Subhash Bridge in Ahmedabad—the city's busiest artery and its vital gateway—is closed. Not for maintenance, but for emergency closure. For five gruelling days, one of the most critical pieces of urban infrastructure has been paralyzed because its structure literally began to collapse, subsiding dangerously from the middle.

Let us be absolutely clear: this is not an act of nature. This is a monumental, inexcusable failure of governance. The immediate shutdown by the Municipal Corporation is a damning admission that the state machinery was caught sleeping while a major civic disaster was brewing right under its nose. The gradual subsidence of a bridge span does not happen overnight; it is the tragic consequence of years of criminal apathy and systematic neglect.

Waiting for the Next Tragedy

While a team from the state government’s Road and Building Department rushes to conduct a belated "on-site inspection," the real question is: Where were they before the bridge visibly started sinking?

This is the toxic pattern that plagues Gujarat’s infrastructure. The closure of the Subhash Bridge is merely the latest symptom of a far deeper rot. We are fully aware that numerous other bridges across the state are in an equally perilous condition. Yet, the government and its maintenance systems remain stubbornly dormant, seemingly waiting for a cataclysmic trigger.

Are we truly destined to repeat history? Are we waiting for another mass casualty event, another Morbi Suspension Bridge tragedy, or the collapse of the Gambhira Bridge, before those in power decide that people’s lives matter more than ribbon-cutting ceremonies? The only thing more dangerous than a collapsing bridge is a government that has to be shocked into action by death and destruction.

The Hypocrisy of 'Vikas'

The negligence here is not just operational; it is political. The Gujarat High Court has repeatedly and sharply reprimanded the state government over its dereliction of duty concerning infrastructure maintenance. These judicial warnings, however, appear to fall on deaf ears.

The priority of the administration is glaringly exposed: they are too busy singing the praises of their so-called 'development works'—a narrative of grandeur built on shaky foundations—to invest in the dull, necessary, life-saving work of structural maintenance.

This obsession with optics over groundwork is not just hypocrisy; it is a profound betrayal of the public trust. When the gateway to the city buckles, the entire narrative of 'Vikas' (development) collapses with it. The government is focused on constructing new headlines rather than preserving the existing lifelines.

The citizens of Ahmedabad and Gujarat deserve immediate answers and, more importantly, immediate accountability. We need a complete, transparent, and state-wide audit of all old infrastructure, not just promises of repairs. The sight of a leaning Subhash Bridge is a harsh reminder: if they cannot maintain what they have, how can we trust them to build the future? The time for flowery speeches is over; the time for urgent action is now, before the next structure claims innocent lives.

- Abhijit

05/12/2025