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Maharashtra has 35K bridges and their upkeep poses nightmarish challenge

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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 ‘foul deaths’: Grim Sharad Pawar meets kin of Beed Sarpanch, Parbhani Dalit man

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December 21, 2024

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Beed/Parbhani (Maharashtra), Dec 21: As Maharashtra is politically rocked by two ‘most foul deaths’, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar on Saturday visited the families of the victims – a murdered Sarpanch from Beed and a Dalit man of Parbhani found dead in judicial custody.

He was accompanied by NCP (SP) MPs Fauzia Khan (Rajya Sabha), Bajrang M. Sonawane (Beed) and Nilesh D. Lanke (Ahmednagar), besides MLAs Rajesh Tope (Ghansawangi) and Sandeep Kshirsagar (Beed), along with a large number of local units party leaders, workers and villagers.

Pawar, 84, took a helicopter to visit the two districts on Saturday – first going to Beed’s Massajog village whose Sarpanch (Headman) Santosh Pandit Deshmukh, 45, was abducted, brutally tortured and then killed on December 9, by some alleged political rivals when he attempted to foil a huge extortion racket at the AVG windmill company.

Subsequently, Pawar flew down to Parbhani where a Dalit man, Somnath Vyankat Suryawanshi, 35, a law student, was allegedly beaten by the police in the aftermath of the sacrilege of a statue of Dr B. R. Ambedkar (December 10), the subsequent violence and his arrest on December 12, and death in judicial remand on December 15.

In Beed, after lending a patient ear to the Sarpanch’s widow, mother, brother, daughter and other villagers, the NCP (SP) supremo readily agreed to foot the education bills of Deshmukh’s daughter Vaibhavi, and also assured all help for the family’s safe and secure future.

The Deshmukh family members broke down before Pawar and other visitors, accused the Beed Police of not conducting the probe properly, demanded that all the absconding accused must be arrested immediately and many from an adjoining village, and the suspected mastermind, Walmiki Karad still absconding 13 days after the killing.

Vaibhavi Deshmukh said she did not even get a final glimpse of her father who was ruthlessly beaten, and demanded that his killers should be given a similar tough punishment, and demanded justice for the family and the villagers, seeking that the trial be conducted in a fast track court.

Sonawane (MP from Beed), his eyes moist, said that there is an atmosphere of ‘terror’ in the village, when the Sarpanch could meet such a ghastly end, the people are wondering ‘whose turn will be next’.

Many have demanded the resignation of ruling NCP Minister Dhananjay Munde who is reportedly cosy with the fugitive prime wanted Walmiki Karad, a former Mayor of Parli Municipal Council.

Perturbed by the narrations, a distressed Pawar demanded that all the killers and the conspirators must be caught and taught a lesson, the Centre and state governments must take serious note.

“The masses are stunned, and they are people who contribute to the sugar industry in this region. What has happened is not acceptable as the Sarpanch was killed for something he was not connected with,” said Pawar grimly.

He said that there’s no need to bring in caste-community in this case, and pointed out how the NCP (SP) General Secretary Jitendra Awhad and Sandeep Kshirsagar raised the matter in the Legislative Assembly.

“You are not alone in this grief… we are with you, the lawyers are behind you. Please leave your fears behind. I shall convey your sentiments to the government. After Sonawane’s speech in Parliament plus Awhad and Kshirsagar’s statements in the Assembly, people were stunned and are asking what’s going on in different states in the country,” remarked Pawar.

In Parbhani, Pawar questioned the state government why violence was used when the crowds were protesting peacefully and said “this is not acceptable, justice for Suryawanshi’s death is non-negotiable”, while promising to submit the evidence handed over by the family to the CM and other authorities.

Condemning both the deaths, Pawar said that although the CM has announced several measures, compensation and probes, “nothing can bring back the two persons nor erase the grief of both the tragedy-hit families”.

Incidentally, after Pawar’s visits, his nephew and NCP President, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar also rushed to Beed and Parbhani this evening where he encountered angry crowds, and Congress Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha will travel to Parbhani on Monday afternoon.

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Maharashtra

Maharashtra: Rahul Gandhi To Visit Parbhani On December 23, Meet Family Of Dalit Youth Who Died In Judicial Custody

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2 days ago

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December 21, 2024

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Mumbai, Dec 21: Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will visit Parbhani on Monday to meet the family of a Dalit youth who died under mysterious circumstances while in judicial custody last week, officials said here on Saturday.

Rahul Gandhi will reach Nanded by a special flight on Monday afternoon and from there drive to Parbhani to the home of the youth, Somnath Vyankat Suryawanshi and condole his family members.

Suryawanshi, 35, hailing from the Wadar community, was arrested in the violent incidents that ensued after the desecration of a statue of Dr B. R. Ambedkar near Parbhani Railway Station on December 10, by one ‘mentally disturbed’ person named Sopan Pawar.

After the violence, a tense shutdown was observed in Parbhani, while the local police swooped down and detained/arrested around 300 persons, mostly Dalits, including Suryawanshi on December 12.

Barely 72 hours later, he was found dead in judicial custody, sparking a massive furore with the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (SP)-Shiv Sena (UBT), Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), CPI (Marxist), Republican Party of India (A), Republican Sena, Republican Party of India (K), and many other Dalit groups slamming the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party MahaYuti regime for the incident.

Following the uproar inside the Maharashtra Legislature in Nagpur and outside, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced compensation for the bereaved family, ordered a judicial probe and appointed a Special Investigation Team of the police to get to the depth of the matter.

Earlier, the Parbhani Police had claimed that Suryawanshi had complained of chest pains and was rushed to hospital for treatment. However, a provisional autopsy report from the Government Medical College, Aurangabad had stated that he succumbed to “shock following multiple injuries”, snowballing into a huge political row.

The MVA and Dalit leaders had vociferously alleged that he was brutally beaten by the police and had succumbed to grave injuries, as was later confirmed by the provisional post-mortem report of December 16.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai: Reddit User Shares Photo Of Uniformed Cop Riding Triple Seat With Helmetless Biker On ‘Police’ Labelled 2-Wheeler

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2 days ago

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December 21, 2024

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A uniformed policeman was seen riding triple seat on a two-wheeler, which was being ridden by a helmetless man. The vehicle carried a ‘police’ sticker and was reportedly spotted on the streets of Mumbai.

A fellow commuter who spotted this cop riding pillion and tripling on the bike captured a photo of the scene and posted it online. The photo captured the number plate of the vehicle. It read, “MH47 AE5165”.

“No helmet, triple seat…”

The photo of the policeman tripling with a helmetless biker was posted on Reddit. A user named Prasad uploaded the image online showing the cop violating traffic rules.

“No helmet, triple seat, Police named Activa and Police in uniform. What is the fine or charge? Is this legal only for the police?”, the Reddit post read.

Netizens react

The cop travelling on the third seat of a two-wheeler being ridden by a helmetless person raised eyebrows online, with many questioning the violation of traffic rules by the official.

Netizens reacted to the Reddit post and asked the user to share the image of X tagging Mumbai Police for necessary action.

“What do you mean rules? Rules are for common folks like us”, one sarcastically wrote. “Absolute power hai inke pass. It is so ironic they click pictures to fine others while riding the bike themselves endangering others”, commented another.

Fines under MV act

According to the official website of the Maharashtra government listing down offences and penalties for motorists violating traffic rules, a “driver of a two-wheeler involved in triple riding would attract Rs. 100 for first offence and Rs. 300 for second or subsequent offence as punishment”. The compounding fee under Section 200 of the Motor Vehicles Act in this case was Rs. 200.

Meanwhile, the penalty for failing to wear a protective head gear (Helmet) was stated to be Rs. 100 for first offence Rs. 300 for second or subsequent offence and the compounding fee for the offence was noted as Rs. 500.

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