Every month, one incident of bridge collapse – both operational and under construction – on national highways was reported on average during 2021 and 2022, reporting a drastic jump from the calendar year 2020, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
In 2020, only two such incidents were reported, which jumped to 11 each in 2021 and 22. This year, in the first 11 months, eight such incidents were reported.
In a written reply, minister Nitin Gadkari informed the House that MoRTH is primarily responsible for the development and maintenance of national highways in the country and there have been a few incidents involving the fall of girder/span or collapse of bridges during construction or in existing ones.
The causes
The minister also said that there are different causes for such incidents including non-compliance with the quality assurance plan, problems in temporary structures supporting different components of the bridges during construction, heavy flash flood, and progressive deterioration of bridge superstructure due to climatic conditions.
“Seven lives have been lost during the last three years and current year till November 2023 in such accidents. MoRTH and its executing agencies have taken action such as debarment of the concerned contractor/ concessionaire, supervision consultant, their key professionals and imposition of penalty,” he added.
Gadkari went on to say that the incidents of bridge collapse during construction are investigated by a committee of experts or executing agencies. “Based on such a report, further corrective measures, as required, are taken,” he said.
The minister said that MoRTH has also taken several proactive steps for assessing the condition of the bridges periodically with the help of manual inspection.
There are provisions for close access to different components of the bridge, instrument-added investigation/structural health monitoring on real real-time basis using sensors, and wherever necessary so that rehabilitation and retrofitting requirements can be addressed in time.
“MoRTH has also taken up Indian Bridge Management System (IBMS) to cover the entire bridges, culverts, flyovers, underpasses, overpasses, Road Over Bridges, Road Under Bridges, and elevated corridors on National Highways in the country. Inventory module of IBMS is at the preparation stage,” he explained.
Five bridges collapsed in Uttarakhand since 2020
Since 2020, in total 32 bridges have collapsed across the country, with the most in Uttarakhand (five), followed by Odisha (four), Himachal Pradesh (three), and Manipur (three).
In 2020, one bridge each collapsed in Manipur and Uttarakhand.
The next year, out of the 11 bridge collapse incidents on national highways, two each were from Uttarakhand, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh also reported one incident of bridge collapse each.
In 2022, again 11 incidents were reported with two each from Manipur and Odisha. One incident each was reported from Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
This year, eight such incidents were registered across national highways with three from Himachal Pradesh alone and one each from Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
Last month, a portion of an under-construction bridge collapsed in Uttarakhand. There were no deaths but 41 workers were stuck for more than 15 days and were later rescued safely.
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