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powerful sand mafias are a curse to river based structures. these mafias even attack police and district officials. No government including Modi govt. has been able to control them.

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

anil wrote:

rambabu wrote:

The life of the Bridge, that was  built in British era had ended after completion of 100 years.The search operations for  the buses  that were swept away could not be continued  due to Pitch darkness. There was an uproar in the Maharashtra Assembly.

 All the channels were broadcasting this tragic incidence since yesterday.

news papers said that it is 88 years old. One Engineer said that the reason behind this tragedies is mining of sand from river. 

It is true Anil, although the immediate cause for collapse of bridge might be different but at the root of it all, lies the same old monster that is destruction of natural resources and habitat. Rainfall of this magnitude is nothing new for Konkan and the bridge had weathered more than 80-90 decades of such rains. But uncontrolled sand mining, destruction of natural riverside vegetation are the main cause behind it. There is a reason for the existence of sands, silt in the river and vegetation on river banks. They all are designed to absorb and reduce the impact of floods to adjoining regions. But since they are all destroyed, majority of the thrust of flood waters is directed to man-made structures which cannot resist the impact and therefore collapse. 

We have to pay cost for all false game with nature.

vijay wrote:

powerful sand mafias are a curse to river based structures. these mafias even attack police and district officials. No government including Modi govt. has been able to control them.

True...The sand mafias have literally trampled several tehsildars and other government officials under JCBs and tractors, many such murders have been reported. A few have been burned down by the sand mafias and yet no one has been able to control them. Probably because the sand mafias are controlled by the most powerful people at the very top. Only an extensive and armed assault against these killers can achieve any results.

Who will bell the cat?

vijay wrote:

Who will bell the cat?

Time will bell the cat.

So keep waiting till eternity.

I have driven on this bridge for at 6/7 on the way to Goa. It was sturdy and if its foundation had not been weakened by illegal mining the bridge would not have collapsed. 

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

I have been reading and watching this since yesterday Kalyani, it is horrifying to see how the bridge has been allowed to reach such a state over the years.I heard some experts say that it should have been repaired a decade ago and the then gvt was advised to do so..

Actually the bridge was one of the 14 bridges in Konkan built by the British 100 years ago. The authorities had even received a letter recently from the British officially stating that the original guarantee of the structure was now expired and so the bridge be closed down. But is is said that the letter was ignored.

However, the authorities claimed to have conducted an audit of the bridge in May that revealed the bridge to be in good condition.

Experts say that down the river and many places on the same river, large scale sand excavation has been going on for many years. Sand, sent to mega projects in Mumbai and Thane, brings in millions of rupees, but has led to serious deterioration of the natural river bed and this led to the weakening of the foundation pillars. Therefore, the bridge which stood similar floods and rains for a 100 years until now, could not bear it longer and finally breathed its last.

This is the real reason. Bridge was OK otherwise, I drove on it many times.

I simply cannot help comparing this to what happens abroad, you get to see such old monumental bridges in Europe, well maintained all the time and people taking pride in it. Here sadly the general Indian mentality is to take public places and public properties for granted. It could be because our leaders have set a bad example, where all public conveniences are used for themselves. No wonder people want to have nothing to do with them..they only see how best they can benefit too like our netas