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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

Does Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis know the meaning of jihad? Abu Asim Azmi

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4 hours ago

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December 25, 2025

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Mumbai: Abu Asim Azmi, a Samajwadi Party leader and MLA from Maharashtra, while commenting on the statement of state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, said, “Does Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis even know the meaning of jihad?” If issues like Hindu-Muslim, temple-mosque are removed from BJP, will it be able to contest elections? If I contest elections from their constituency, I may lose, but if the people they are oppressing do not vote for them, it will be called “vote jihad”. And I do not believe that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam or any other reputable Muslim organization has ever supported those who spread hatred in the name of mosque or language, while the hate agenda of BJP creates division between Hindus and Muslims so that there is chaos in votes and BJP wins elections on the basis of caste. Muslims have never spread hate messages, but when a Muslim does not vote for such a extremist leader, it is attributed to vote jihad. Jihad is a sacred word, its term is being presented incorrectly. The term jihad is struggle and sacrificing for a good cause and country is jihad, but the communalists and the crits Soumya and Nitish Rane, including BJP leaders, have changed the definition of jihad, which is completely wrong. It is wrong and this kind of statement reveals their hostility towards Muslims. If despite this, if someone does not vote for them, they say that voting is jihad. If you work on a hateful agenda, who will vote for you?

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Maharashtra

Properties worth Rs 41.64 lakh of notorious drug smuggler Naveen Gurunath Chechakar of Navi Mumbai frozen, Mini Cooper car also seized

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6 hours ago

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December 25, 2025

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In an effort to crack down on the illicit financial flow of the Mumbai drug network, the competent authority and the office of the Administrator, Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act and NDPS Act have confirmed the freezing order issued by NCB Mumbai covering movable and immovable properties of the drug kingpin, GSD involved in multiple types of drugs. The value of the other frozen properties is ₹ 41,64,701/-.

On 27th January 2021, based on specific intelligence, the Narcotics Control Bureau, Mumbai Zonal Unit had arrested three accused in Belapur and Nerul area, Navi Mumbai and seized various types of drugs like cocaine, commercial quantity of LSD and Ganja. Prohibited items were being sold in Belapur and Nerul area of ​​Navi Mumbai. Subsequent investigation identified accused and kingpin Naveen Gurunath Chachakar of CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra as the kingpin running an international and inter-state drug syndicate.

An intensive financial investigation was conducted to trace the assets acquired from the illegal sale of drugs. The investigation led to the identification of a bank account in Citibank and a luxury vehicle Mini Cooper, which were frozen in November 2025, with a total value of ₹41,64,701/-, which was confirmed by the competent authority in December 2025.

The main accused, Naveen Chachakar, is a habitual offender and a notorious drug smuggler in Belapur and Nerul area of ​​Navi Mumbai. He has five NDPS cases registered against him – three by NCB Mumbai, one by Nerul PS and one by Customs. NCB Mumbai has arrested him after a long process of tracing and continuous efforts. They are currently in judicial custody in the above cases.

The NCB has appealed to the citizens to join the fight against drug trafficking. Information related to drug sale or trafficking can be shared anonymously on the MANAS National Narcotics Helpline (Toll Free) 1933.

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Maharashtra

Maharashtra Politics: AAP Releases 2nd BMC Candidate List, Takes Tally To 36

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6 hours ago

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December 25, 2025

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Mumbai: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday released its second list candidates for the 2025-26 BMC elections, with 15 names. This takes the total number of candidates announced by the party to 36. Last week AAP in its first list has announced 21 candidates. 

AAP in its debut in the BMC elections have decided to contest all 227 wards in Mumbai, ruling out alliance with any party.

“AAP releases it’s second list of candidates; while BJP, Congress, both the Shiv Sena factions and both NCP factions haven’t been able to finalise a single list so far. AAP candidates have hit the ground,” said party leadership said. 

Speaking on alliance of the Thackeray brothers, Preeti Sharma Menon, the party’s Mumbai President said, “We are happy that two brothers have come together. But all we have seen is Uddhav and Raj Thackeray and the BJP’s Ashish Shelar trade barbs at each other. The Congress is as usual missing in the action. The fact is that all existing parties are status quo beneficiaries and have looted the BMC, whether as the ruling party or by being complicit as the opposition.”

“None of these parties have agreed on a single list, while the Aam Aadmi Party has hit the ground with our leader Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘Kaam Ki Rajniti’ and has already released two lists,” Menon said.

On Tuesday, AAP released it’s list of star campaigners for the 2025-26 BMC polls, featuring the party leadership across Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, Goa and Gujarat. The list of 40 campaigners includes it’s national leaders including former Delhi chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi and other ministers including Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and others, who will campaign in Mumbai.

MP Sanjay Singh last week said, “Despite being India’s ‘Urbs Prima’, Mumbai is in a mess. BMC has a whopping Rs. 74,447 Crore annual budget- the largest in Asia. Mumbaikars pay the highest taxes in the country and yet get shoddy public services. The BMC is a cesspool of corruption and monumental ineptitude. Every political party has looted Mumbai, prioritising their selfish interests over public good.”

Singh had highlighted that with just seven corporators, AAP will have a house leader and representation on all statutory committees, adding that when the party last contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it got 5.16% of the vote share, which came to over 2,73,000 votes. 

The voting for the 2025-26 BMC polls is scheduled on January 15, 2026 and counting of votes will be on January 16. The nomination papers submission for the candidate began on December 23 and will continue till December 30. The final list of candidates for all parties will be declared on January 3.

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