DNA Edit: Building bridges

The discipline and commitment that the Indian Army brings to the table for any job it undertakes deserve to be emulated by governments and private institutions in this country. In a mere 117 days, it has completed construction of three Foot overbridges (FoBs) in Mumbai by incurring an expenditure of just Rs 18 crore. Had this work been left to the Indian Railways, delays owing to red-tapism would have led to cost-escalation and corruption.

Finally, when the FoBs would have been inaugurated for public use, there would be fears of faulty construction and sub-standard materials being used to jack up profits. This phenomenon is rampant across state governments and Central initiatives because unlike the Army, our governments and private operators do not believe in nation-building. Just to jog the collective memory a bit, long before the Mumbai Elphinstone station stampede, the Railways had proposed the construction of a FoB at the site, only to bury that desire in complacency.

One needs to visit the remotest parts of the country, especially those strategic locations where the Army is entrusted with building infrastructure, to see the quality of work being produced at no extra cost. Something as elementary as road-construction in India is an annual exercise in palm-greasing. Similarly, building a bridge becomes an occasion for minting money at the cost of the public exchequer. The collapse of the Vivekananda flyover in Kolkata on March 31, 2016, crushing 26 people to death, is a prime example of how corruption, nepotism and apathy thwart the very purpose of governance. The Mumbai and Kolkata tragedies, like countless other man-made disasters in India, are bound by a common disease: lack of accountability of elected representatives. It’s a germ that has infected most public institutions. The Army, thankfully, is largely immune to it, and that alone makes it so special.