Sir, The grim reminder of the fact regarding the building collapse of five storey under construction building in southern state of Goa in which atleast 14 persons died and has left several severally injured it isn't an isolated incident, frankly speaking, this story will remain in the headlines for about 2-3 days and afterwards forgotten, there are many further tragedies waiting to happen, Mundra near Mumbai is an classical example, inquiry commissions are set up, some compensation is awarded and matter is forgotten till next accident to happen.

Today building collapse are becoming more frequent, due to massive demand for housing, lax of rigid supervision, regulatory authority which always encourages builders allowing them to use substandard material or add unauthorized extra floor, lack of implementation of rigid building construction code is one of the main reason for construction accidents at building and infrastructure project.

There is a dire need for an improved safety mechanism, It is also highly disappointing that Indians are indifferent to life threatening accidents/hazards. This attitude must change immediately. Goa Chief minister Mr Manohar Parrikar is a strict administrator, he should go all out to punish the culprtis so that it sets up example for other contractors/Builders so they adherence to safety rules to ensure workers safety protection and prevent such ghastly accidents, construction companies should upgrade their equipment. use certified good construction material and take all safety precautions at construction sites. India should emolute our friends in GCC countries where safety standards at construction sites are strictly implemented.

Ramesh G jethwani is a Veteran writer, Voracious reader, Historian and commentator who has been writing in 21 newspapers in India and GCC countries for several decades on various subjects of importance.
His website.www: rameshjethwani.com.

Sir — The Collapse of 150 years old pedestrian suspension cable bridge over the Machhu river in Gujarat Morbi district is shocking, This tragic accident has claimed over 130 lives including 49 children, making it one of the most devastating accidents in the country in recent years. this should serve as a wake-up call for the authorities, urban planners, Structure Engineers as India has large number of old bridges constructed during the colonial era..

What’s shocking is our apathy and scant regard to public safety, State government should have a dedicated technical committee to oversee the periodic safety of these old bridges and conduct periodic technical safety audits. the services of independent technical experts must be enlisted to check the design material used to see if they can be strengthened

However, the Government must immediately order a thorough time bound investigation to determine responsibility.

(ii) subject== Bridge collapse in India (Morbi): A wake-up call,
Gulf News, November 09, 2022, L.E

Recently, the collapse of the 150 years old pedestrian suspension cable bridge over the Machhu river in Gujarat’s Morbi district in India, sent scores of people tumbling into the river below. The accident should serve as a wake-up call for the authorities, urban planners, and structure engineers. India has a large number of old bridges constructed during the colonial era.

This tragic accident has claimed over 130 lives, including 49 children, making it one of the most devastating accidents in the country in recent years. The primary reason behind the collapse of such bridges in India is that they were constructed in the colonial era and are poorly maintained. What’s shocking is our apathy and acceptance of these human tragedies as routine. Scant attention is paid to public safety in India. Similar incidents of collapsing bridges in the past were also due to the same reason.

Every Indian state government should have a dedicated and incorrupt technical committee to oversee the safety aspect of these bridges. Furthermore, there should be periodic thorough technical safety audits as per the national building code of all such old structures in the country with the help of reputable independent technical experts.

Though the Indian government carried out the rescue operation on a war footing by deploying the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, the government should also order a thorough probe in a time-bound manner to fix responsibility as the bridge was reopened with the necessary permission.

Ramesh G jethwani is a Veteran writer, Voracious reader, Historian and commentator who has been writing in 21 newspapers in India and GCC countries for several decades on various subjects of importance.
His website.www: rameshjethwani.com.

The collapse of a flyover in Gurugram, in India, should serve as a wake-up call for government authorities. This accident is due to the lack of rigid safety supervision by authorities. It is not only the fault of the construction agency but also the project management consultant and structure engineers. India has always embarked on massive infrastructure projects. It is seen that such accidents are frequently happening. And, these accidents seem to be forgotten after a few days.

The government should order a thorough technical safety audit of all flyovers and bridges in the country by credible and independent technical experts, and check the design and materials used.

Old structures should also be audited for safety, as these flyovers have a high number of vehicles and pedestrians crossing during peak hours, which can be very risky.

Sir — The collapse of the foot over-bridge (FOB) in Mumbai should serve as a wake-up call for railway authorities, urban planners, structural engineers and project management consultants considering India has embarked on massive infrastructure projects. At least six people died and many were grievously injured under falling debris.

What’s shocking is our apathy and acceptance of these human tragedies as routine. Similar cases of collapsing bridges in the past were primarily due to the technically obsolete bridges, most of which were constructed during the colonial era and their poor maintenance.

A thoroughly technical safety audit of all FOBs should be carried out by a credible and independent expert body. Some of these should be reinforced with metallurgical advanced construction material, in particular those FOBs which have a higher number of pedestrians crossing at peak hours.

Sir — The recent footbridge collapse in Mumbai, in which six people died and several others were injured, should serve as a wake-up call for urban development authorities. Although that was not the case here, one of the primary reasons behind the collapse of bridges in India is that most of them were constructed in the colonial era and have been poorly maintained.

A thorough safety audit should be carried out of all such bridges by a credible independent agency. Further, all footbridges that have passed their expiration dates should be overhauled using advanced construction technique and sturdy material. Special attention should be paid to footbridges in busy localities that receive heavy footfall.

The collapse of under construction fly over in Varanasi should serve as a wake up call for urban planners, structure engineers,and project management consultant as the ntion embarks on massive multi billion dollars infrastructure projects,

About 15 people lost thier lives and a bus and half dozen vehicles were crushed under falling debri,the falling of flyover is also a India

The need of hour is to set up a strong regulatory body to look into afety angle of such mega projects.

Sir — This refers to the report, “36 feared dead in Varanasi flyover cave-in” (May 16). The collapse of an under-construction flyover in Varanasi should serve as a wake-up call for our urban planners, structural engineers and project management consultants as the Government is taking some bold moves in infrastructure as it is betting big on billion-dollar projects.

The collapse of the flyover is also a reminder of the scant attention paid to public safety in India. The need of the hour, therefore, is to set up a regulatory body so as to maintain a safe working environment on construction sites.

Also, India must learn from some of the best global construction practices, hire the best of experienced designers and an experienced project management construction team so that projects can be completed in a time-bound manner.

-Ramesh G jethwni,Bangalore.


(2) Systemic collapse,(Varanasi flyover accident),
The Telegraph,24th May,2018,L.E

Sir -The collapse of an under-construction flyover in Varanasi should serve as a wake-up call for urban planners as the nation gets ready to undertake massive infrastructure projects. The incident is a reminder of the scant attention paid to public safety in India. The need of the hour is to set up a strong regulatory body to look after the safety angle of such large-scale projects.

In addition, the best global construction practices should be adopted; experienced designers and project management teams should be hired so that development projects can be completed in a time-bound manner without compromising on safety measures.

The accident should serve as a wake-up call for urban planners, structural engineers and project management consultants as we now seem to be embarking on a massive urban infrastructure building spree.

The collapse of the flyover is also a reminder of the shoddy quality of material and construction practices in general, and the scant attention paid to public safety in India.

Recently, the collapse of the 150 years old pedestrian suspension cable bridge over the Machhu river in Gujarat’s Morbi district in India, sent scores of people tumbling into the river below. The accident should serve as a wake-up call for the authorities, urban planners, and structure engineers. India has a large number of old bridges constructed during the colonial era.

This tragic accident has claimed over 130 lives, including 49 children, making it one of the most devastating accidents in the country in recent years. The primary reason behind the collapse of such bridges in India is that they were constructed in the colonial era and are poorly maintained. What’s shocking is our apathy and acceptance of these human tragedies as routine. Scant attention is paid to public safety in India. Similar incidents of collapsing bridges in the past were also due to the same reason.

Every Indian state government should have a dedicated and incorrupt technical committee to oversee the safety aspect of these bridges. Furthermore, there should be periodic thorough technical safety audits as per the national building code of all such old structures in the country with the help of reputable independent technical experts.

Though the Indian government carried out the rescue operation on a war footing by deploying the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, the government should also order a thorough probe in a time-bound manner to fix responsibility as the bridge was reopened with the necessary permission.

The collapse of an under-construction flyover in Kolkata, in which more than 20 people were killed and over 80 injured, has sent shock waves across the country.

This incident should be a wake-up call for the relevant authorities and also for urban planners, structure designers and project management consultants. Questions have been raised about safety norms at various construction sites and also on the callous attitude of the authorities towards construction projects and the construction workers.

The construction business in India has been completely unregulated. Gaps in the system leads to poor quality of construction. For this, the regulatory authorities are to be blamed as they use low quality construction material and are also negligent about public safety. The need of the hour, therefore, is to use the best global construction practices, hire the best of experienced designers and an experienced project management construction team so that the project can be completed in a time-bound manner

Sir - The loss of lives resulting from the collapse of a flyover in Calcutta has sent shock waves throughout the country. This incident should serve as a wake-up call for urban planners. Work in a large number of mega infrastructure projects is currently underway in India. The flyover may have collapsed because of the shoddy quality of construction.

The need of the hour is to employ global construction norms, hire the best structural engineers and complete any project in a time-bound manner.There should also be regular safety audits of ongoing large construction projects.

Sir, The foot over bridge collapse has shaken the confidence of the people in the system. Those found guilty should send a stern message to those responsible no longer accept this.

The collapse of a five-storey building under construction in India’s Goa state (Building collapse kills 7 in India, Jan 4) killing at least 14 and leaving several severely injured isn’t an isolated incident.

Though the accident will remain in the headlines for a few days and then be forgotten, there are many further tragedies waiting to happen. Inquiry commissions are set up, some compensation is awarded and the matter is forgotten till the next accident happens.

Building collapses are becoming more frequent due to the massive demand for housing and lax supervision, which encourages builders to use substandard material or add extra floors. There is a dire need for an improved safety mechanism. Indians are indifferent to life-threatening accidents/hazards. This attitude must change.

Goa’s chief minister Manohar Parrikar is a strict administrator; he should go all out to punish the culprits so that it sets an example for other contractors/builders, forcing them to adhere to safety rules.

In the recent past we have witnessed frequent construction mishaps. On Friday one under-construction building in Thane collapsed like a pack of cards. This catastrophic tragedy in the form of a building collapse caused deaths of about 50 people. This incident has wreaked unimaginable havoc on human life and it is more tragic and painful to learn that poor and lower-middle class people had invested in this under-construction building and there was no proper sanction for the construction from appropriate authorities.

This tragic accident has once again put focus on our construction and safety standards and has proved that inadequate safety measures are being implemented at construction works.

Primary cause of increasing incidences on constructions sites in the country can be attributed to poor safety arrangements, use of substandard materials, lack of proper safety gears for workers and inadequate monitoring mechanism at construction sites to save money on the project.

Use of quality material is part of the agreement between contractors and developers but there is little check on how it is implemented.

In fact, we Indians have become accustomed to the news of frequent accidents resulting in deaths, unfortunately given the frequency of these accidents we barely get shaken up any more. Value for human life seems to be vanishing from our society as is apparent from seeing growing political and civic unrest prevailing in nation.

Following accidents, a number of senior political functionaries visit the sites, console the victims, announce the inquiry and some compensation and then there is no action taken against those responsible for these accidents. These mishaps can be avoided in future if construction companies upgrade their equipment and take all construction safety precautions.

Besides this the government should order audit safety of all buildings under construction UAE is an example where safety standards at construction sites are strictly implemented.