Even as search operations continue as 22 people are missing after two buses were swept away in the swollen Savitri river after a British-era bridge collapsed on the Mumbai-Goa Highway near Mahad in Maharashtra’s Raigad district late on Tuesday night, questions about the safety of the bridge are being asked.
According to a three-year-old article published in Lokmat, the bridge was in a terrible condition and the National Highways Authority who were aware of the condition did nothing to fix it.
The 100-year-old bridge, inaugurated in 1927, had been in use for almost 10 years before its formal inauguration.
Public Works Department officials and National Highways Authority of India officials said that the British government warns its Indian counterpart when bridges built on highways and railway lines during the colonial rule near the end of their expected lifespan and recommend their closure or demolition.
A railway official confirmed such a practice among the British authorities.
“We are regularly informed about aged bridges and structures.”
A senior PWD official said, “I’m told that the British had informed us about the Savitri bridge as well.”
Officials said that British-era bridges are made of stone and have arches and the problem with this type of construction is that whenever any joint in the bridge collapses, the entire structure can fall down.
In case of the Mumbai-Goa Highway bridge, peepal trees had started growing in the cracks between the stones, which weakened the bridge further. The condition would be worst during rains as trees would grow further.
Image: The remaining portion of the Mahad-Poladpur bridge which was washed away in flood water of Savitri river on the Mumbai-Goa highway in Raigad district on Wednesda. Photograph: PTI
