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Maharashtra has 35K bridges and their upkeep poses nightmarish challenge

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3 years ago

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Maharashtra has a stupendous 35,000-plus big and small bridges on roads in village, towns, cities, state or national highways, posing mind-boggling challenges for their regular upkeep and maintenance, with multiple agencies involved, but recording barely 100 structures crashing since 2000, top officials said.

As per government data, under the state’s Public Works Department (PWD) jurisdiction, there are 146 small, 105 big and five long bridges (total 256) from the pre-Independence era, some dating back to over 350 years and still functional.

In the post-Independence era, the state recorded massive development since 1957, with around 16,000 small, 2100 big and 100 long (total 18,200) bridges being constructed.

Besides, there are some 12,000, including 2,000 major bridges, on the national highways crisscrossing the state, an estimated 4,000 (total 16,000) in various civic bodies’ jurisdictions, like some 450-odd in Mumbai, not counting another huge number of bridges on the railway networks.

Despite the huge numbers of bridges, in the past 22 years, barely around 100 medium or small have crashed – 75 percent of them comprising masonry design and the rest raft design – in different parts of the state.

The worst crash was the washout of 106-year-old British-era masonry bridge on the heavily-flooded Savitri River near Mahad in Ratnagiri on August 2, 2016, which swept away two ST buses and around 10 other private vehicles with the death toll touching 40.

There have been other smaller crashes in Mumbai and other parts of the state in the past two decades though with lesser casualties or fatalities.

As per Indian Road Congress (IRC) norms, a “small bridge” spans 06-60 metres, a “big bridge” is 60-200 metres and a “long bridge” is 200 metres plus and can go upto a few kms in length, each posing unique challenges for their upkeep and safety.

These bridges comprise a variety of designs, architecture styles and materials depending on their location, whether linking hills, mountains, passing over rivers, streams, drains (nullah), creeks, the sea (the Rajiv Gandhi Bandra Worli Sea Link or the upcoming Mumbai Trans Harbour Link), flyovers, road over-bridge, foot over-bridge, etc.

“There are prescribed SOPs for checks, routine, pre-monsoon and post-monsoon maintenance for all bridges, but with a staff of around 5,000, its possible to cover only around 35 per cent of the bridges in a year,” revealed a senior PWD officer, requesting anonymity.

As per the SOPs, any initial complaints go to the concerned local PWD office which sends out teams to inspect, and if there are serious problems, specialised team with experts from within and outside (like IITs, IIE, etc.) examine it scientifically, said the officer, who has personally inspected around 1,000 bridges in the past two decades in some of the most hazardous terrain.

Then, the cumbersome work of making reports, proposals, budget estimates, sourcing the funds, setting the time-frame, etc, takes place, and again depending on the urgency of the work, it may or may not be prioritised as paucity of finance remains the biggest hurdle.

A former PWD Chief Engineer of Bridges had suggested to the state government and Union Minister for Roads & Highways Nitin Gadkari to rope in the 30,000 students from civil engineering colleges studying in their two final years to help in the inspection works.

“They can form a part of the local PWD inspection teams and theoretically can inspect all the 35,000-bridges in the state in just a couple of days. This exercise can be done twice a year to reveal all the maintenance flaws and potential risks to any structure,” he said.

The students would be guided by the PWD experts, and it would have proved an invaluable academic field exercise with some incentives like grace marks or extra grades in their exams, etc, but there was no movement on his suggestion, rued the ex-CE.

Prescribing a regular “good health check-up” for all bridges, especially the old ones, a senior Highway Department officer appreciated the Indian Railways for their “constant vigil and dedicated teams carrying out daily, weekly, monthly inspections or biannual surveys of all their bridges” to ensure safety of the hundreds of trains hurtling around the country with passengers and cargo.

“Unfortunately, this zest is severely lacking among the states’ PWDs and virtually non-existent for the national highways authority, though the local civic bodies barely pass out on this count,” the officer said.

Touching on the Savitri River bridge crash, the PWD officer said it was nicknamed a “green bridge” as its fa�ade was completely covered with shrubs, bushes, creepers and small plants – but spelling a “red alert” from the safety aspect.

“Such overgrowth is rarely taken into account, another lurking danger is the dredging of sand from the water-bed in the vicinity, blatantly violating norms which weaken the bridge foundations and make it prone to a crash, overloading during peak hours which hasten the wear-and-tear, allowing vehicles to ply even when the flood levels touch or cross the red level marks, as it happened in the Savitri River case,” he said.

Officers from the Highways Department, PWD, civic bodies and others ruled that “unless regular inspection and maintenance” is carried out for all bridges – majority are already over 40-50 years old – there can be repetitions of the recent Morbi (141 dead) or the 2003 Daman & Diu (26 dead) type tragedies, with more risks added as new bridges come up practically every month in the massive expansion of the roads and railways in the country.

The inspection tasks are now considerably easier with the applications of computers, drones, satellites or other modern gadgets to scan the bridge health without physical presence, though the latest technological advancements come at a high price and are deployed on hardly one percent of all the structures in the state, the officials said.

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Maharashtra

Maharashtra: Demand For Love Jihad Law Intensifies As Hindu Organisation Leads State Campaign

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13 hours ago

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December 10, 2025

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The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, a right wing organisation, on Wednesday urged the Maharashtra government to introduce a stringent law against what it describes as love jihad during the winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur. The term is used by right wing groups to allege that Muslim men target Hindu women for marriage with the intent of religious conversion.

The call comes after a coordinated campaign across the state that saw the involvement of more than 160 Hindu organisations from 20 districts. The Samiti stated that the participants pressed the government to pass a strict law to curb alleged forced conversions linked to marriage.

Sunil Ghanvat, the Samiti’s state organiser for Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, said in a statement that more than 1,600 activists and citizens took part in rallies, public meetings and memorandum drives across major districts. These included Mumbai, Jalgaon, Dhule, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Ahilyanagar, Akola, Amravati, Chandrapur, Nagpur, Satara, Pune, Solapur, Nashik, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.

Memorandums were submitted to district collectors, taluka administrations, elected representatives, the Governor, the Chief Minister and the home department, urging the state to act.

The Samiti noted that states such as Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Uttarakhand have already enacted laws aimed at curbing forced conversions. It argued that Maharashtra should introduce similar legislation with provisions for life imprisonment and registration of non-bailable offences.

Alongside the push for a love jihad law, the organisations also raised the demand for an anti land grabbing law, stating that such measures would strengthen legal safeguards in the state.

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Maharashtra

Preparations for Sunni Dawat-e-Islami’s three-day global Sunni gathering in full swing

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16 hours ago

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December 10, 2025

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Mumbai: Like every year, this year too, the 33rd annual gathering of the Sunni Dawat-e-Islami Movement is being held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 12, 13 and 14 at Azad Maidan, Wadi Noor, opposite CST, Mumbai. Like last year, this year too, the gathering on the first day, Friday, will be for women only, while the remaining two days will be reserved for men. Insha Allah, many scholars, preachers and mashaikhs from the country and abroad will participate in this global gathering. The preparations for the gathering were started last Saturday in the evening after the weekly central gathering. Urdu Media In-charge Maulana Mazhar Hussain Alimi said that the leaders of the movement are making full efforts to make the three-day gathering a success. Efforts are being made to provide all possible facilities so that the audience and attendees do not face any kind of trouble. As per tradition, this year too, the three-day global gathering will be broadcast live on sdichannel, which will be directly accessible to those who wish to learn religious teachings from all over the world. The women’s gathering on the first day will feature speeches on important topics such as “Women’s Intellectual Taste”, “Women’s Real Ornament: High Character and Modesty”, and “Women’s Share in Inheritance”. In addition, the researcher of modern issues Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Nizamuddin (President Mufti of Jamia Ashrafia Mubarakpur) will answer questions asked by women about Islam. Ameer Sunni Dawat-e-Islami and the spiritual leader of this gathering, the great preacher Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Shakir Noori, has appealed to people to participate in the gathering as much as possible, understand the message of religion and act on it. Ameer Sunni Dawat-e-Islami has said that they should also come and bring their friends and thus become a means of transmitting religion. He has appealed to Muslims to send women from their homes to the gathering on the first day so that they can Attend the gathering to learn religious teachings, improve themselves and advise others. There will be important speeches by great scholars and preachers in the gathering on the second and third days. There will be detailed speeches on important topics such as “The Miracle of the Holy Quran”, “The Spiritual Life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), “The Envoy of Peace (PBUH), “Searching for Humans in Humans”, “Ethics and Spiritual Training of Youth”, “Religious Information and Artificial Intelligence”, “Signs of the Pleasure and Displeasure of Allah Almighty”. Islamic thinker Allama Qamar-uz-Zaman Azmi (Secretary General World Islamic Mission London) will deliver a speech on the third day. Insha Allah, the commentator of the Quran, Khalifah Mufti Azam Hind, Hazrat Allama Zaheeruddin Khan Rizvi, will also deliver an insightful speech. In the gathering on the third day, there will be a gathering after Zuhr prayers, followed by a lecture on the latest issues of Bukhari Sharif, in which the last hadith of Bukhari Sharif will be delivered by Hazrat Allama Mufti Muhammad Nizamuddin Rizvi (Jami’ Ashrafia Mubarakpur). On this occasion, prayers are accepted in the presence of the Lord, so be sure to participate in this prayer as well.

In order to facilitate the participants of the gathering, a large number of ablution rooms and toilets are being built, and more than sixty cameras are being installed throughout the gathering as part of security arrangements. In addition, about two thousand women will volunteer for the women’s gathering, while more than one thousand male volunteers will serve in the gathering on the second and third days. The police have requested the participants of the gathering not to bring handy cameras, laptops, wires, batteries, matchboxes, lighters, nail cutters and other electronic equipment that runs on batteries. For security reasons, parking of motorcycles or any other vehicle around the Azad Maidan is not allowed.

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Maharashtra

Azmi demands in Nagpur Assembly that Navi Mumbai Airport be named after Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj

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17 hours ago

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December 10, 2025

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Mumbai: In the Mumbai Maharashtra Nagpur winter session, Member of Assembly Abu Asim Azmi has demanded that the Navi Mumbai Airport be named after Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. He said that he died in Mumbai on May 6, 1922, so the Navi Mumbai Airport should be named after Shahu Maharaj. He said that Shahu Maharaj has always served Dalits, backward classes, educational reservation and equality and it is to his credit that Dalits and backward classes are provided with reservation and other facilities. He said that the Navi Mumbai Airport should be named after a great leader. Since the airport is a transportation hub, naming the airport after Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj is a tribute to him.

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