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ShareThe mishap on the Central Railway last week where a steel girder fell on a passing train near Thane and then broke a water pipeline contains all the elements of everything that is wrong with infrastructure development in India today. The girder belonged to a bridge which was under construction for the last eight -- yes, eight -- years. Of this, work had been halted for three years due to some petty squabbles between the Central Railway and the Thane Municipal Corporation. The details of the stand off between the two would be funny to read if the results had not been so catastrophic. Both sides continuously invoked territorial rights and not surprisingly soon after the accident the familiar blame game which is an Indian hallmark, followed.
The immediate outcome of the accident was the deaths of the motorman -- who took the brunt of the girder's fall -- and one passenger. Several people were injured, some quite badly. The fact that the water pipeline was also damaged meant that the accident site also got flooded. Gallons of water were wasted, affecting the water supply to the area. The damage to the railway tracks was so extensive that several train services were cancelled or thrown out of joint for days. Mumbai relies on its train services to move people around -- a mishap can affect tens of thousands of people.
Jumping into the melee were political leaders and activists. Those who were deemed responsible were roughed up by local MLAs. Allegations flew thick and fast and corruption was assumed to be the main cause for the delay. Each one of these instances underlines one more list of shortcomings in our infrastructure, our disaster management and emergency services.
Enquiries and investigations will look into the cause and try and apportion blame for the accident. But the problem lies much deeper than that. It points to the flaws that lie in our systems and in our infrastructure development. The country is practically exploding as far as infrastructure is concerned: there are flyovers, bridges, railways, airports, power plants being built in every major city and town. And yet, not only do we have abysmally low standards, we also have no concepts of time, money and safety, to say nothing of maintenance. What are the chances that this accident will change the way things are fundamentally done? The tragedy is not just in loss of life and material damage: it is in our gross inefficiency and our refusal to learn from our mistakes.
